Dad of five Kevin Taylor was left shocked when Joelinton invited him to his house after getting a tattoo of his Newcastle hero on his body.
The Geordie superfan added to his manic collection of Toon stars with a huge piece of ink on his stomach. It pictured the Brazilian cheering in last season’s home strip.
Joelinton had been a laughing stock under Steve Bruce where the £40million striker woefully performed up front. But under Eddie Howe, the former Hoffenheim star has been reborn as a midfield enforcer in the Premier League and become a fan favourite in the process.
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So much so that Newcastle fan Kevin decided to go under the needle to have Joelinton immortalised on his stomach. He said: “I wanted Joelinton first – I love how he fights for everything.
“He had a poor time at the start and he’s had the best turnaround you’ll ever see. But the tattooist said he wanted to do Shearer. I had room for one more after those two so I got Bruno (Guimaraes) as well.”
After sharing his new ink on social media, a Brazilian journalist got in contact and soon after so did Joelinton, who was blown away by the incredible gesture. Kevin was shocked that one of his heroes reached out – even inviting him to his house along with his children to play football in his garden.
“A Brazilian journalist got in touch after seeing my tattoo,” he said. “She asked for my phone number then on Wednesday, a couple of months later, Joelinton randomly messaged me.
“I didn’t think it was him. He gave me his address and I thought… surely not? My partner drove us there and on the way she was saying ‘it’s not gonna be him, we’ve been set up here!’
“But when we arrived, he popped his head out the door and I was like ‘wow, it’s actually him’. We got the bairns out of the car and we’re having a bit craic on. All of a sudden, he gets the balls out of the car and starts playing football with the kids. My eldest son was playing football with his son – it was really canny. We were there for a good hour. We were talking about the game on Sunday and asking about each other’s families.”
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