William Osula making headlines on Sunday.
The 22-year-old scoring twice as Newcastle won 3-1 against West Ham in the penultimate game of this NUFC season.
The brace against the Hammers makes it five goals in the last six Premier League matches for William Osula.
No doubt this a season he would have liked to have continued when in such a rich vein of goalscoring form.
William Osula will be hoping to add at least one more goal on Sunday at Fulham, that would take him to double figures in all competitions this season, having scored seven in the Premier League and two in the Carabao Cup.
So many statistics are quoted these days, many of them very annoying.
One of my pet hates is when ‘Premier League’ ones are quoted, as though football never existed before the 1992/93 season.
For example, Alan Shearer is the record Premier League scorer with 260 goals. However he actually scored 283 English top-flight goals, it was just 23 of them were scored for Southampton before it was rebranded from ‘First Division’ to ‘Premier League’ ahead of the 1992/93 season.
Anyway, back to William Osula.
These are statistics that BBC Sport have quoted followed Newcastle’s win over West Ham:
‘William Osula has scored six goals in his last eight Premier League appearances, having scored just twice in his first 50 top-flight games before this for Sheffield United (none in 21 games) and Newcastle (two goals in 29 games) combined.’
This is beyond pathetic, an absolutely ridiculous comparison.
Without giving this proper context, the full story, it is laughable.
The BBC Sport narrative is clearly to make out that William Osula was a total failure (two goals in 50 Premier League appearances) and then has suddenly found a short burst of form (six goals in eight Premier League appearances).
The actual reality is nothing like what is being portrayed here, it is not like for like.
The last eight Premier League matches where William Osula has scored six goals, he started six of them and came off the bench in the other two.
In the 29 Premier League appearances when he scored twice for Newcastle United before that, William Osula started one and the other 28 were off the bench!
The real truth though, the proper comparison, is when you look at the number of Premier League minutes on the pitch for William Osula.
The last eight Premier League appearances that have seen him score six goals, William Osula was on the pitch 483 minutes (all stats via Whoscored).
In his previous 29 Premier League matches for Newcastle United when scoring twice, William Osula was on the pitch 386 minutes.
Last season, William Osula made 14 PL appearances BUT they were all very brief cameos that totalled only 124 minutes, less than nine minutes per match! For BBC Sport not to make this kind of thing transparent is totally misleading.
The last eight PL appearances have produced six goals in 483 minutes, an average of a goal every 80 minutes on the pitch.
The previous 29 PL appearances produced two goals in 386 minutes, a average of a goal every 193 minutes on the pitch.
When you take that last stat, BBC Sport could have said that on average William Osulla in the 29 PL appearances scored on average almost the equivalent of a goal every other match worth of minutes!
Including the Premier League appearances for Sheffield United is almost as misleading, without proper context.
William Osula did make 21 PL appearances for the Blades, nine starts and 12 off the bench, a total of 785 PL minutes on the pitch and zero goals. Though this is hardly a surprise, as Sheffield United were abysmal that 2023/24 season and only managed 16 points and 35 goals (conceded 104!) when finishing rock bottom. The then 20-year-old William Osula got most of those minutes long after it was clear Sheffield United were going down and the whole team spent the vast majority of every match defending and rarely getting out of their own half, never mind creating chances for Osula.
This is not a case of William Osula proving to be a failure on the pitch until the last couple of months.
It is a case of William Osula now finally getting a run in the team and he has scored six goals in his last eight Premier League matches, starting six of the eight games. The big question now is whether he can sustain that goalscoring form over a longer period of time?
None of this is to say that Eddie Howe and his coaching team have got it wrong with William Osula and that he should have played a lot more previously. Howe always made clear that when United paid £10m (plus a potential £5m of future add-ons) to Sheffield United, they were getting a very raw 20-year-old who needed time and help to try and fulfil whatever potential he had. Jason Tindall had recommended they had a punt on the young Dane as he had seen some promise when William Osula was in the youth ranks at Sheffield United and Tindall did some coaching there.
I think William Osula is clearly a far better all round player now than when he first arrived and he is scoring goals. He was also plagued by an ankle injury for much of this season and in the end had to be given complete rest.
Eddie Howe and his staff have got the now 22-year-old to this point and I think one of the massive positives is that he still looks a raw talent in many ways, with the potential of far more to come. He has still only started 16 Premier League matches in his entire career, so I suppose it would be far far more surprising if he was already looking the finished product.
William Osula has for sure proved he is no dud. Just a case of how far his raw pace and talent is now going to take him at Newcastle United?