How Anthony Gordon became central to Newcastle’s Champions League hopes

There may come a point on Tuesday when Eddie Howe decides he has to manage Callum Wilson’s minutes and a winger, who began 2023 on the bench for an Everton team in a downward spiral that seemed likely to take them into the Championship, will instead be repurposed as a centre-forward in the Champions League. In front of more than 80,000 people in Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, probably the biggest crowd of his life. Maybe with Newcastle United’s destiny at stake.

The chances are that Anthony Gordon will relish it. A theme of Newcastle’s star-studded fixture list is that Gordon has a refusal to be intimidated by big names or big games.

He harried Paris Saint-Germain, rousing the crowd at St James’ Park in the process. He was outstanding against Liverpool, even if his goal was overshadowed by Darwin Nunez’s late double. He flourished as an auxiliary centre-forward against Manchester United against Old Trafford. He scored Saturday’s winner against Arsenal, soon after Wilson went off and Gordon adopted his emergency role as a striker.

As many an opponent can testify, Gordon is utterly fearless. “It is one of his best qualities,” said Howe. “I think he plays the game, he doesn’t play the opponent. He wants to play every minute.”

And if opponents who Gordon seems intent on rattling may disagree with part of that analysis, the irritant has come to have an impact that has rendered a bit-part figure in spring a talismanic presence in autumn.

There are ways in which Gordon’s time at Goodison Park has served as an apprenticeship, in which Everton’s struggles may have benefited Newcastle. It ended unhappily, Gordon going on strike to try and force through a move. Having received a £45m fee that initially looked inflated, Everton then failed to bring in a forward in January which threatened to cost them their top-flight status.

Howe had looked back further in his scouting. Newcastle and Everton – big-city clubs, high-pressure environments – have certain similarities and the Merseysiders’ eventual escape from relegation two seasons ago was a stressful affair. Gordon was pivotal then. “One of the challenges when you come to a club like Newcastle is can you play in the atmosphere, in the stadium, in intense conditions,” Howe said. “I think his experience of Everton helped him adjust to life here.”

With Richarlison sold that summer, Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injury problems added to the appeal. Gordon was pressed into service as a striker then. “We watched him when recruiting him,” Howe recalled. “I had seen him on the left and right for Everton and really liked him in both positions but I also liked him as a centre-forward.”

Then Gordon was Frank Lampard’s new protégé, the player he compared to Mason Mount; Lampard propelled his rise and, after their paths diverged, the midfielder became a Champions League winner. It is too soon to predict that Gordon will have the same status; defeat in Dortmund could usher Newcastle towards an early exit. Yet, a few months after being dropped by Lampard in the dog days of his reign, he did win the player of the tournament award in the summer’s European Under-21 Championships.

It is worth remembering, that, when the Magpies were in negotiations for Gordon, co-owner Amanda Staveley said Howe believed the winger could become one of the best footballers in the Premier League.

On current form, he might be. That may not surprise Thomas Tuchel, who wanted to sign Gordon for Chelsea in 2022, but represents swift progress nonetheless, albeit from a man who does everything at speed. Gordon began the season in a job-share with Harvey Barnes on the left flank. Now he is indispensable there and Plan C in the middle which, with Alexander Isak injured and Wilson rarely playing 90 minutes, can give him the most iconic of duties on Tyneside: being Newcastle’s centre forward.

There is a question if Gordon can keep on running; he has never started more than 30 club games in a season and is already up to 13 now. “I’m maxed out but I do feel good,” he said. “I’m not complaining.” Rather, he is grasping an opportunity. “I can’t praise him enough,” Howe added. “After a difficult first few months at the club, where he was keen to show his qualities, he was patient and learned how we play and now he is reaping the rewards.”

One came in the form of a tap-in against Arsenal, equalling his career-best tally of four goals in a season. It was a curiosity when Gordon said: “I used to be obsessed with goals and assists.” Yet they were never his forte. He only scored seven times in 78 games for Everton; even then, three of his four goals in 2021-22 were deflected. He scarcely seems the most clinical of finishers. If the next step is to add more goals, Gordon has a nuisance value that means he is irrepressible. It has made him central, in more ways than one.