Newcastle United's Joelinton to set unwanted Premier League record if he draws Sheffield United blank

If he fails to score at Bramall Lane, the £40m Brazilian will have made the worst start ever by a Premier League striker after a big-money move.

As it stands, Joelinton is second only to Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho in terms of the poorest early impact any high-priced centre-forward has made.

We compared the Newcastle No 9’s return of just one Premier League goal in his first 14 games with the record across the same number of matches of every other striker in English football bought for £25m or more.

And neither Joelinton’s miserable 0.07 goals per game record nor his minutes per goal statistics make for pretty reading.

And they will look worse still if he fails to score against the Blades . . . and moves up to number one in this table.

So here are the 10 big-money Premier League strikers who made the worst-ever starts for their new club.

10: Roberto Soldado: £27m – Spurs – 4 goals - 0.29 goals per game (1108 mins per goal)

Soldado’s move to Tottenham in 2013 looked great business on paper as he averaged over a goal every other game in La Liga.

But despite being given plenty of pitch-time at White Hart Lane, Soldado made a mediocre impact in his first 14 games, and things went downhill from there, as he managed only three goals in 38 appearances amid the emergence of Harry Kane.

9: Christian Benteke: £42m – Liverpool – 4 goals - 0.29 gpg (439 mins per goal)

Benteke became Liverpool’s record transfer in 2015 after managing 42 goals in 89 appearances for a struggling Aston Villa side.

However, four goals in his first 14 appearances for the Reds and the introduction of Jurgen Klopp’s quick passing game saw the big Belgian struggle badly in front of goal.

8: Andy Carroll: £36.9m – Liverpool - 3 goals – 0.21 gpg (305 mins per goal)

Liverpool stunned football by smashing their club record fee to land Carroll from Newcastle in January 2011. But injuries curtailed his involvement in the second half of the 2010-11 season, and poor service saw him go goalless in the opening couple of months of the subsequent campaign.

7: Andriy Shevchenko £40m – Chelsea – 3 goals - 0.21 gpg (309 mins per goal)

A big marquee signing for Chelsea after the Ukrainian tore up Serie A with AC Milan did not work out well for either party.

Shevchenko managed four goals in 14 appearances for the Blues and ended up back in Milan on loan after two poor seasons which produced nine goals in 48 appearances.

6: Dimitar Berbatov: £34.2m – Man Utd - 2 goals – 0.14 gpg (595 mins per goal)

Berbatov went on to become a popular figure at Old Trafford, but he endured a sticky start to his time there after a drawn-out move from Tottenham.

However, while the Bulgarian’s early goal return for the Red Devils was seriously modest, he did chip in with eight assists during those first 14 Premier League games.

5: Wilfried Bony: £29m to Man City - 2 goals – 0.14 gpg (233 mins per goal)

Having scored nine goals in the first half of the 2014-15 season, Bony was snapped up by City to boost their Premier League title bid.

But the Ivory Coast international struggled to impress in competition with Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko, and four defeats in six games condemned City to finish runners-up to Chelsea.

Much of Bony’s time, however, was spent on the bench.

4: Fernando Torres: £50m to Chelsea – 1 goal - 0.07 gpg (763 mins per goal)

The third Chelsea signing on this list highlights both their financial clout and questionable judgement.

But Torres’ record at Liverpool meant he was seen by many as a sure thing when the Blues splashed out a British record fee for him in January 2011.

Instead, buckling under the expectation, he proved a flop, being dropped to the bench after just five starts.

3: Edin Dzeko: £33.3m to Man City - 1 goal – 0.07 gpg (819 mins per goal)

Another player who eventually repaid his fee, Dzeko had a seriously lean time in his earliest days at the Etihad after arriving from Roma in January 2011.

After a couple of anonymous performances, the Bosnian was benched by City boss Roberto Mancini, and only broke his duck for the club with a late winner as a substitute against Blackburn on his 10th appearance.

2: Joelinton: £40m to Newcastle – 1 goal - 0.07 gpg (1115 mins per goal)

The Magpies’ new No 9 ranks all too highly on this list, despite delivering a well-taken winner away at Tottenham early in the season.

Having barely troubled any goalkeeper since that goal in North London, the Brazilian has also struggled too often to hold the ball up.

Ironically, Steve Bruce’s faith in him means Joelinton is also weighed down by a minutes-per-goal record far worse than that of either Torres or Dzeko in their early days at Chelsea and Man City.

1: Kelechi Iheanacho: £25m to Leicester - 0 Goals – 0 gpg (426 mins)

If expectations of Iheanacho were huge when he arrived from Manchester City, the let-down he provided was just as big – particularly in his early months as a Fox.

With Jamie Vardy raising his game to remain Leicester’s undisputed first-choice striker, Iheanacho has struggled on the fringes, with his goal against Everton on Sunday only his fifth in all competitions since 2017.

The Nigerian finally found the net in his 15th Leicester appearance - in a win at West Brom.