Newcastle unveil new number nine after taking iconic shirt off Joelinton

Newcastle have handed the club’s iconic number nine shirt to striker Callum Wilson ahead of the new season, taking it away from the struggling Joelinton, who will wear the number seven instead.

Hughie Gallacher, Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald and Alan Shearer have made the Newcastle nine shirt famous over the years and Wilson will now hope to do justice to it.

Joelinton had worn it for two seasons following his club record £40m arrival from Hoffenheim, but the Brazilian has scored only six Premier League goals in that time, despite playing regularly.

In contrast, Wilson, wearing his customary number 13, scored 12 Premier League in 26 appearances last season. He got eight of those in his first 12 league games for the Magpies following a summer transfer from Bournemouth and arguably would have got more had his form not been disrupted by hamstring trouble that effectively ended his season in February.

Newcastle’s number nine shirt has had a mixed history in the Premier League era. Aside from Shearer, Andrew Cole and Les Ferdinand both scored a lot of goals wearing it in the 1990s.

Shearer was given the shirt in 1996, forcing Ferdinand to take number 10 instead, and went on to score a club record 206 goals during his decade at St James’ Park.

But after Shearer retired in 2006, Obafemi Martins struggled to make a lasting impact. Andy Carroll took it over in 2010 after a breakout season winning Championship promotion and had brief success, before being sold to Liverpool for £35m only a few months later.

Papiss Cisse was another to enjoy only brief success, scoring 13 times in his first 14 Premier League appearances following a mid-season arrival in January 2012. The Senegal star couldn’t sustain that form and had only added 24 more to his league tally in a further 103 games.

Dwight Gayle and Salomon Rondon also both wore nine for a season each before Joelinton.

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