If Shelvey’s “head was screwed on”, teammate Matt Ritchie thinks that the midfielder could play for Barcelona.
Shelvey and Ritchie on the pitch together.
Shelvey is an England International player, with a few caps to his name, but he hasn’t been played in the England squad since 2015. Despite this, he has put in some quality games for Steve Bruce’s team, and is a highly valued and respected player at St James Park.
He’s also a former Liverpool player, but he never really got a chance to shine there.
But his team mate, Matt, says his ability cannot be disputed.
“What a player, I’ve been at Newcastle four years and I’ve seen him inside a box no more than 10 times,” Ritchie told the In The Box YouTube channel.
“That’s how good he is. His natural ability to see passes, to receive the ball, to move the ball.
“I remember playing against him as a kid – I think he scored a hat-trick, he was unbelievable.
“He’s got his moves – ending up at Newcastle. I say to him on regular occasions: ‘if you had your head screwed on you could play for Barcelona .’
“He’s that good. He’s got everything.”
But, unfortunately, one of Shelvey’s ‘problems’ is his love of golf, it’s a huge distraction according to team mates and Ritchie says this is probably one of the reasons he hasn’t reached his full potential in his career.
“I’ve said to him so many times ‘if you just got head down and focused just solely on football and forget about golf and whatever else…’.”
Scotty ✅
