Five years of the man who kicked the ball into his own head - We wouldn't change him for anyone

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the beginning of one of the greatest individual stories in Newcastle United's history.

The 23rd July 2019 was the day that Newcastle United shattered their transfer record by acquiring Brazilian striker Joelinton from Hoffenheim. It was a move that would change how Newcastle fans view their Number 9.

After icons such as Alan Shearer, Les Ferdinand and Papiss Cisse, Joelinton would be the next great player to don the famous Number 9 shirt at Newcastle United.

Well, that was the plan anyway. Despite the fact that Joelinton was absolutely not a striker for Hoffenheim, instead playing as a left-sided forward, Newcastle would deploy the Brazilian to lead their line up front to mixed, actually no, not mixed, just flat-out disastrous consequences.

Deploying Joelinton as a striker was embarrassing for everyone involved

As much as we cry about being short of options up front now, things were much worse in 2019 with Joelinton as our lone striker. The man looked completely out of his depth and couldn't hit a barn door.

Callum Wilson was brought in and after a successful season in front of goal, he took the number 9 shirt off Joelinton who was handed the number 7. Despite that change, Joelinton was still deployed as a centre-forward for the most part, with the odd foray out to the left where he looked a lot more comfortable.

However, it wasn't until Eddie Howe took over at Newcastle and one fateful red card against Norwich that things started to change. Ciaran Clark was sent off early in the match against Norwich forcing Howe into a tactical change that saw him drop Joelinton into the midfield, and suddenly, a legend was born.

No amount of money would convince us to part with J7

In addition to his positional change that transformed Joey from an obstacle on the pitch into a force to be reckoned with, J7 clearly worked hard in training and became an absolute unit.

His physical presence and new-found dogged determination to be everywhere in the Newcastle midfield changed him from a laughing stock to a terrifying force in the Premier League.

At one point we'd have taken any offer to simply get him off the books, but not long after that Norwich game, we wouldn't have even entertained the idea of letting him go for twice what we paid for him.

The Joelinton love is strong in the NUFCfeed offices. We're so glad he's one of us and we can't wait to see him tearing up the Premier League again next season after missing him for so long in the last campaign.

Still, no matter who good he is, we'll never forget that time he kicked the ball into his own head. Possibly the most amazing feat ever seen on a football pitch.