Hear me out - Newcastle United's Jacob Murphy getting an England wildcard call-up is a genius idea

Wembley-born Jacob Murphy has only ever represented England at youth level, but has now catapulted himself into the Three Lions conversation with another fine individual display for Newcastle United against Crystal Palace.

The 30-year-old winger was a threat throughout the contest with two superb crosses to Alexander Isak, that the prolific Swede failed to capitalise on in the opening 10 minutes. Murphy took matters into his own hands in the 14th minute and opened the scoring with a fine overlapping run to link up with Kieran Trippier before unleashing a thunderous driven shot into the near post from a seemingly impossible angle.

It had shades of the stunning Sandro Tonali winner against Brentford, which the Italian later claimed was 70 percent cross and 30 percent shot. However, Murphy said his effort was completely intentional in an interview which sums up the level of confidence he’s playing with.

“I did mean it, yeah! When the juice is flowing, you've just got to hit it. The defender's come out so it was going to be hard to get it through him so I thought 'Aah, just shoot here'. Lovely.” Said Murphy via Sky Sports. "We always knew that the first goal was going to be really important so I'm happy to get it and happy to start off so well."

The first goal did indeed prove pivotal a contest it’s fair to say the Magpies controlled masterfully, with Murphy again pulling the strings with a fine free kick to find the head of Fabian Schar for the fourth goal in a comprehensive 5-0 bulldozing.

Murphy was awarded the Man of the Match as his team climbed to 3rd in the table and firmly in the driving seat to achieve Champions League football, after a run of six consecutive wins across all competitions including a Carabao Cup final triumph over Liverpool.

Can Jacob Murphy break into the England squad?

It’s very rare that you see a player have a breakout season at the age of 30, but that’s exactly what is happening with Murphy at this moment in time. For seven years the former England Under-21 international, who arrived from Norwich City for £12m, had been on the fringes of the Newcastle squad behind the likes of Kenedy, Matt Ritchie, Ryan Fraser and Miguel Almiron.

On two occasions it even looked like he was destined to leave the club he supported growing up. He was loaned out to West Brom in 2019 and spent the following campaign at Sheffield Wednesday, where he impressed at Championship level.

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However, Murphy’s patience has paid off and he has now established himself as one of the first names on Eddie Howe’s team sheet, with as many league goal contributions as he’s managed in the last three seasons combined. He’s started every league game since 30 November and has been pivotal to the club’s upward trajectory, with crucial goals against Nottingham Forest, Leicester, Ipswich and even Arsenal in a League Cup semi-final.

He’s also popped up with a number of crucial assists including a neatly cushioned header for Isak’s winner in the League Cup final against Liverpool. Only Player of the Season favourite Mohamed Salah of Liverpool and Isak have made more goal contributions than Murphy in this calendar year, meaning on current form he’s given himself a great chance of a first England call-up.

How Jacob Murphy compares to the current England squad

Murphy, an FPL player’s dream, has nine goals and 13 assists in 35 appearances across all competitions, giving him a total of 22 goal contributions and counting this term. He’s set up Isak on seven of those occasions and if he sets him up three more times he will break a Premier League record. To put these numbers in context - that’s more goal contributions in one season than Jack Grealish has managed in five years at Manchester City.

Murphy in many ways is an old fashioned winger, with a desire to get the ball into the box quickly and accurately before a defence has chance to settle, and Isak is reaping the benefits of this approach by being able to perfectly anticipate exactly when the cross is going to be delivered while often catching the opposition off guard.

Overall, Murphy has 19 Premier League contributions putting him third in the list of English players in the division behind Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.

Premier League goal and assist combined

• Cole Palmer - 22
• Ollie Watkins - 20
• Jacob Murphy - 19
• Bukayo Saka - 16
• James Maddison - 15
• Morgan Rogers - 15

If Murphy is to break into the England squad, he will be the latest in a long line of stars to make their international debut while being managed by Eddie Howe, after Joelinton, Callum Wilson, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Anthony Gordon and most recently Dan Burn.

His teammate Harvey Barnes said, via BBC Sport: "He's playing unbelievable. He's such a character in the changing room and deserves everything he's getting. I'm joining the petition [to get him in the England squad]."

Admittedly, Murphy does have a wealth of talent to compete with including Marcus Rashford, Eberechi Eze, Jarrod Bowen and Bukayo Saka among others, but based on current form he’s certainly given himself a great chance of gatecrashing the party in the run-up to the World Cup in 2026 - just imagine those pinpoint crosses landing squarely on Harry Kane’s forehead as the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey erupts.

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