Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe might be disappointed with how Anthony Elanga’s career at St James’ Park has started, and it could be time for the Swedish international to have a spell out of the team.
Elanga made the move to the Magpies during the summer transfer window, joining the club from Nottingham Forest. Newcastle supporters will have been hoping the former Manchester United winger will have solved their right-sided problems for many years, but it’s not quite worked out that way so far this season.
Elanga is competing with the likes of Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon, and even potentially Nick Woltemade, for a place in the starting XI, and Howe has shown patience with Elanga so far. Whether that patience will remain is unclear as it stands, but there’s no doubt Howe will be disappointed with how Elanga has started.
Eddie Howe Should Axe Anthony Elanga for Newcastle
It could be time for Howe to make the difficult decision to drop Elanga from the starting XI. The Swedish international is yet to provide a single goal or assist since making the move to St James’ Park, and considering he’s an attacking player who was signed for a lot of money, it’s far from the level required for the Magpies.
There’s an argument to suggest that Elanga is holding Newcastle back at the moment when it comes to their attacking output, and it’s telling that they’ve only scored three goals in the Premier League this season. Elanga, whose performance against Bradford City was described as ‘underwhelming’, might need a little motivation to get back to his best, so a spell out of the side might be what he needs to push him to improve to the levels we’ve seen from him before.
There’s a reason Newcastle invested significantly to bring him to the club in the summer transfer window, but so far it’s not looked like he’s been worth the money. There’s plenty of talent there waiting to explode, and there’s no doubt he suits Newcastle’s fast-paced style, so there’s no reason why he can’t flourish at St James’ Park eventually.
Howe now needs to remove him from the starting XI and give others a chance. Howe has brought Elanga in and out of the team in recent weeks, but he’s not proved himself when given the opportunity.
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