Anthony Elanga will come good for Newcastle United, according to Eddie Howe.
Elanga joined Newcastle United for £55million from Nottingham Forest but has failed to hit the ground running.
While there have been flashes of quality from Elanga, the fact is that he has recorded only one assist in 12 games for Newcastle. That came when he won a penalty against Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League, which was converted by Anthony Gordon.
To Elanga’s credit, he may have had more assists if some of his teammates converted chances he created against the likes of Barcelona.
Still, Howe took the Sweden international off at half-time against Brighton on Saturday and did not bring him on at all against Benfica on Tuesday.
Harvey Barnes, who scored twice out of position, replaced Jacob Murphy after his assist against the Lisbon giants.
The Newcastle United manager, however, is expecting Elanga to shine and there are two examples as to why patience really could be a virtue.
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Eddie Howe expecting Anthony Elanga to improve for Newcastle United
Howe was asked about the 23-year-old before Newcastle’s clash with Fulham in the Premier League.
He stressed that the player’s future at the club was very exciting but also admitted his summer signing needed time to fully settle into the way Newcastle operate. He may have already played for the club but Howe believes getting the best out of him will be “worth the wait”.
That has happened at Newcastle before. Indeed, the likes of Gordon and Lewis Hall needed an adaptation period before really kicking on.
Gordon only started convincing after around six months at the club, while it took Hall around a season to consistently impress.
“I am really, really excited about Anthony’s future, I think he has all the qualities we need,” he said during Friday’s pre-match press conference (via The Chronicle).
“I think he just needs a little more time to understand what we do but for those of you who have been here for any length of time that is not unique for us.
“There have been a number of players during our time who had to work for a long time to fully get the Newcastle way. Sometimes it is really worth the wait and I think that will be the case with Anthony.”
Anthony Elanga plan hatched behind the scenes at Newcastle United
Players improve while working with the Newcastle United coaching staff. There have been countless examples of that over the Howe era, but Gordon and Hall are perhaps the most similar in profile to Elanga.
Fabian Schar, Joelinton, Joe Willock and Miguel Almiron were already at the club when Howe arrived but he was still able to yield major improvements out of them. Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak all hit new levels while working under this regime, too.
Newcastle think Elanga needs support and an arm around the shoulder rather than criticism at this stage of his development.
Given all the coaching staff have done since arriving at the club in 2021, they have earned the trust of supporters to get things right.
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