JOSELU... FROM TOON STRUGGLES TO REAL SAVIOUR
Madrid’s latest hero has never given up... despite hard times at Stoke and Newcastle
JOSELU hits the corner flag with a shot from 22 yards after coming on as a sub for Newcastle in a 1-0 home defeat to Brighton.
The St James’ Park crowd grumble in disappointment.
The £5million bargain striker was a symbol of Rafa Benitez trying to work a miracle in the Mike Ashley era.
He scored just seven goals in 52 Toon appearances.
That was the Joselu we knew at St James’ Park, less than six years ago.
Aged 34, he’s now written a new story, and one all the more remarkable considering what came before.
The Real Madrid supersub, sharp and reactive, dynamite in front of goal, smashed two goals in three minutes to elevate his side to the Champions League final.
More goals in 180 seconds than in his last nine months on Tyneside. Now, Joselu, journeyman of Stoke (above, left), revived in Alaves and Espanyol, is forever part of Bernabeu folklore.
He hears the legacy of his time in the Premier League every day.
Madrid team-mate Jude Bellingham has nicknamed him “Crouchy” because of his lanky stature and season spent with Peter Crouch at Stoke.
At Newcastle his name conjures memories of dark days of struggle (above, right).
The Spaniard was a deputy for Salomon Rondon, as Benitez just about kept the Toon’s head above water. Most likely, chucked on from the bench with 15 minutes to go.
Joselu was not as bad as all that. Yes, he lacked pace. But he was a focal point, tactically aware, a link man and very good in the air.
There was always potential, now unlocked by the superstars around him. He called himself “a different sort of player” who can “fix the centre-backs” and convert crosses. At Newcastle, Joselu recalled: “I wasn’t playing. You get a chance and if you miss, maybe it’s three or four games before you play again. There were bad moments. It’s inevitable.”
No wonder there were tears of joy from his wife and family, when he was recently called up for Spain. And inevitably more tears on Wednesday night. He’s earned his moment.
After spells in Germany with Hoffenheim, Frankfurt and Hannover, he landed in Stoke for £5m in a decent team of Crouch, Marco Arnautovic and Jon Walters, who he loved.
They finished ninth and reached the League Cup semi-final before he was loaned to Deportivo la Coruna.
Benitez then took him for £5m, saying: “A good striker with technical ability… but you have to manage with the tools that you have and he was a good price.”
After two seasons on Tyneside, he left and admitted: “I could have stayed, picked up my money, not played. But I wanted to compete, to feel important.”
He said, before the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, that experience in England – half of his 68 Premier League games were as a sub – and “three good seasons at Alaves, then Espanyol, helped me reach where I am now.”
And where is that? A Spain debut just before his 33rd birthday. Dining at the top table in Madrid, a specialist at changing a game with a style very different to his superstar team-mates like Vinicius Junior and Bellingham.
Any English fan who witnessed the struggles on Tyneside and at Stoke, will cast a wondrous glance at Joselu now and think, ‘Good on you. Always dream, never give up’.
He hears the legacy of his time in the Premier League every day