Next week, Newcastle United will make their long-awaited return to Champions League football, making the exciting trip to the San Siro to face off against prestigious Italian outfit AC Milan.
It's the beginning of a new chapter; last season, Eddie Howe's resurgent side charged up the table to secure a top-four Premier League finish, but that was just the prologue.
Despite starting the current campaign with three defeats from the opening four matches, Newcastle are poised for a sustained position among Europe's continental endeavours, with the affluence bred from the PIF takeover in 2021 allowing the side to make acquisitions for some of the game's most promising talents.
That being said, some of the old guard have enjoyed emphatic rises under Howe's tutelage, casting aside the issues of the past and finally unlocking their full potential.
Partnering £35m star man Sven Botman in central defence, Fabian Schar was integral in maintaining the Premier League's joint-best backline last season, hailed for having "eliminated" the flaws in his game by journalist John Gibson.
Up front, Callum Wilson enjoyed his most productive goalscoring season to date, netting 18 goals from just 21 starting appearances in the top flight.
Impressive comebacks all-round, but none more profound than the revival of Brazilian ace Joelinton, who has been reborn as a midfielder after initially toiling in a frontal role at St. James' Park.
How much did Newcastle sign Joelinton for?
Newcastle finished the 2018/19 campaign in 14th place, but after scoring just 42 goals – a tally better than only the bottom four sides in the division – it's clear that moves needed to be made to secure a new starring talisman.
And that man came in the form of Joelinton, who completed a club-record £40m move from German Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim, smashing the previous record signing of Miguel Almiron for £21m the previous January.
Joelinton, aged 22 at the time, had been described as an "animal" and a "machine" by Julian Nagelsmann – who he worked with at Hoffenheim – after plundering 11 goals and nine assists across all competitions during his final term at the PreZero Arena.
He was viewed as the "strong" and "athletic" striker to dominate as the Magpies spearhead for years to come by club manager at the time Steve Bruce, who heralded his "incredible work-rate" and expansive potential.
What was said about Joelinton when he first joined?
Joelinton would only score twice across all 38 matches of his maiden Premier League season, quite quickly drawing comparisons to Salomon Rondon, who had scored 11 times from 32 league outings for the Toon on loan the season before.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: "If they were looking for a similar player to Rondon, Joelinton is him."
Reporter Andrew Musgrove also noted the 27-year-old's "similar traits" to the Venezuelan striker's build and physicality, but where Rondon enjoyed a reasonably prolific term on Tyneside before falling into obscurity, Joelinton languished below expectations.
In fact, Joelinton would only score four goals the ensuing campaign, repeating that unflattering tally once again across the 2021/22 season, however, that year the Brazilian would reshape his role and indeed career with a deeper, more centralised new position, now one of the most robust, brutish midfielders in the Premier League and integral to Newcastle's success under Howe's wing.
His rise has been remarkable, to say the least, and he is now an indispensable member of the Toon squad, with the murmurings around his performances and worth to the St. James' park side improving year on year.
"Similar traits" to Rondon
2019/20
"Worst signing ever"
2020/21
"Resurgent"
2021/22
"Exceptional"
2022/23
The "standout"
2023/24
As the aforementioned table illustrates, the general consensus around Newcastle's once-record signing has seen a drastic change, and he is now comfortably one of the most dynamic midfielders on English shores, reinvented in a new role.
How good is Joelinton now?
Having now made 161 appearances for the Magpies, Joelinton boasts just 22 goals and 11 assists to his name – for reference, Miguel Almiron has 25 goals from 168 games, an infamously hot-and-cold finisher.
But no longer will Joelinton's strike record define him. Unshackled from the constraints of a forward, the £85k-per-week star is free to dominate in the centre of Howe's system, hailed for his prowess as the turbo-charged "machine" by teammate Keiran Trippier and "pure class" by podcaster, Dave Harvey.
Despite the Magpies' slow start to the current campaign, the four-cap Brazil star has been in fine fettle, recording an average Sofascore rating of 6.95 across his four matches so far, completing 87% of his passes, making 1.3 key passes per game, completing 75% of his dribbles and forging two tackles and five ball recoveries per outing.
Thanks to FBref's clearly delineated metrics, it's easy to discern Joelinton's newfound prowess as an all-encompassing midfield gem, among the best across Europe's top five leagues for goalscoring and box-crashing, while also demonstrating his tenacity and application through some impressive defensive rankings.
As Newcastle soared to success last season, Joelinton and a rotation of Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock thrived astride the centrepiece Bruno Guimaraes, whose dynamism, ball-playing skills and quality have been crucial to the prosperity of this Newcastle team.
A few years into Joelinton's Newcastle career, few would have expected him to play a starring role in a successful charge toward Champions League endeavours, and fewer still might've predicted that ascent to be in the midfield, as an unrelenting box-to-box ace.
But he has indeed been rekindled and then some, and as Newcastle continue to make the improvements to their fast-rising team, he will continue to impress and grow into his role, perhaps even playing his part in procuring some silverware sometime soon.
The 6 foot 2 colossus is believed to have held discussions regarding a new contract in the summer, with fresh, improved terms likely to result in a continuation of this sensational resurgence.
Once likened to Rondon and branded among the 'worst signings ever', Joelinton is vindicated under Howe's tutelage, the embodiment of Newcastle's incredible rise from the rubble over the past few years.
