Change of fortunes for flops
THE disbelief at North East flops Luuk de Jong and Martin Braithwaite spearheading Barcelona’s attack against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday night will echo around Tyneside and Teesside.
De Jong made 12 underwhelming appearances for Newcastle United while on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach in 2014, while Braithwaite endured a feisty two-year spell with Middlesbrough from 2017.
But the misfits, who both figure in their respective club’s worst-ever signings according to various fans groups, are now top of the bill for Barca in the aftermath of the departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine
Griezmann.
It wasn’t the best of starts at St James’ Park for
De Jong, who was brought in on loan with the view to a
£7million permanent deal. He came on as a substitute in the humiliating 3-0 home defeat against bitter rivals Sunderland.
He failed to score and never looked like winning over the frustrated Toon army.
“It hurts that I didn’t score,” he confessed. “I’m a striker and scoring is what I’ve done at every other club.
“If you don’t score people are going to judge you and that’s what happened.”
Ex-holland manager Ronald Koeman (above) took him to Barcelona from Sevilla on a season-long loan.
Koeman said: “He is the kind of player who can change a game with his experience. I have spent two years with him in the Holland national team and he showed in many games that he has the level to be with us.”
Now the 31-year-old has linked up with 30-year-old Braithwaite in what must be the most unusual forward pairing in Barcelona’s history.
A troublesome spell on Teesside for Denmark international Braithwaite included loan spells at Bordeaux and Leganes.
Even Braithwaite must be pinching himself following a shock move from Leganes for £15m in February 2020.
He said: “My aim is always to be an impact player. I have a lot more in my repertoire that I have not really showed the world yet.”