In-form Newcastle United man credits Sheffield Wednesday and Garry Monk with turning his career around

Jacob Murphy has since become a regular at Newcastle United having played 44 matches for the Owls in the 2019/20 season, scoring nine goals and grabbing six assists.

And as the Magpies continue in their quest to secure a top four Premier League finish, the 28-year-old spoke to former England captain Rio Ferdinand on his ‘Vibe with Five’ podcast about that year in South Yorkshire, crediting then-Owls boss Garry Monk with helping to turn his career around.

Murphy had been failing to live up to the £10m Newcastle had paid Norwich City for his signature two years earlier. A slow start in blue and white was soon put behind him and the winger grew to become the stand-out man in a fairly miserable second half of the campaign.

This season Murphy has featured in all but one of the Toon’s league matches.

“I’d had to go out on loan a few times and I found myself at Sheffield Wednesday, which was an unbelievable loan for me,” Murphy said.

“Halfway through that season I found myself at a crossroads; I would either get let go by Newcastle or I would have to change something and revive my career.

“I had some great chats with Garry Monk. It was unbelievable working under him and it gave me a mentality switch. You can talk about a eureka moment or a lightbulb switch and something just switched in me and changed everything.

“I started reading books, I was more focused on what I was eating, I was going to the gym more often.

“I’d always loved doing extras on finishing and crossing and stuff like that, but I started really dialling in on the detail and in the second half of the season at Sheffield Wednesday that’s when I started to get my confidence back again and get back to the player who was bought by Newcastle all those years ago.

“I went back to Newcastle with all new knowledge that I had gained, I attacked the hell out of it and haven’t looked back since then.”

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