Jonjo Shelvey’s Newcastle United teammate Matt Ritchie says the midfielder may play for Barcelona, if solely his head was screwed on.
England worldwide Shelvey, who has been capped six occasions however by no means since 2015, is in his fifth season at St James’ Park and has delivered a number of standout shows for Steve Bruce’s facet throughout the marketing campaign.
And Ritchie says the previous Liverpool midfielder’s skill is past query.
“What a player, I’ve been at Newcastle four years and I’ve seen him inside a box no more than 10 times,” Scotland worldwide Ritchie instructed the In The Box YouTube channel.
“That’s how good he is. His pure skill to see passes, to obtain the ball, to maneuver the ball.
“I bear in mind enjoying in opposition to him as a child – I believe he scored a hat-trick, he was unbelievable.
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“He’s obtained his strikes – ending up at Newcastle. I say to him on common events: ‘if you had your head screwed on you would play for Barcelona.’
“He’s that good. He’s obtained the whole lot.”
Ritchie provides Shelvey’s love of golf is among the causes he hasn’t reached his potential as a footballer.
“I’ve stated to him so many occasions ‘if you simply obtained head down and centered simply solely on soccer and neglect about golf and no matter else…’,” he added.
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“He’s mad – he’ll play golf like thrice per week.
“I’m like ‘Jonjo, you can’t do this.’
“At Newcastle, he hits the longer passes, he’s the one we glance to open groups up and create – I really feel like, and that is no disrespect to us at Newcastle, however if he was enjoying at Barcelona or Real Madrid, you can simply think about…he would simply blow groups away with his skill.
“You need to have the whole lot in the fitting place and he likes his golf an excessive amount of!”
