After a career that includes over 250 Premier League appearances and has seen him win six England caps, Jonjo Shelvey decided last summer the time was right to begin a new footballing chapter in the UAE.
A stylish midfielder known for his unerring long-range passing, Shelvey started his career in the second and third tiers of English football with Charlton Athletic.
His ability caught the eye of Premier League giants Liverpool, who in 2010 paid Charlton a £1.7 million fee. Shelvey spent three seasons on Merseyside, winning his first England cap in 2012.
After making only 17 league starts at Liverpool, Shelvey would sign for rival Premier League club Swansea City for £5m, also spending three seasons at the Welsh club.
But it was at his next club - Newcastle United - where Shelvey would spend the bulk of his career, joining the Magpies in a £12m deal in 2015 and going on to play more than 200 games for the Tynesiders.
He was signed by Steve McClaren, but the former England manager was soon replaced by Rafael Benitez with the team deep in relegation trouble. Despite an improvement under the Spanish coach, Newcastle dropped down to the second tier after finishing third bottom, just two points shy of safety.
Shelvey would then play a central role in Newcastle making an instant return to the top flight, helping the team clinch the Championship title on the final day of the season after beating Barnsley 3-0 in front of 50,000 fans at St James' Park.
For the next five seasons, Shelvey would remain a key player at the club, under Benitez, Steve Bruce and finally Eddie Howe, who took over as manager in November 2021 after owner Mike Ashley sold the club to a Saudi Arabian-led consortium.
A short stint at Nottingham Forest was followed by a spell in Turkey with Caykur Rizespor and then Eyupspor. After moving to English second-tier side Burnley in January 2025, the 33-year-old has now become the marquee signing at Arabian Falcons FC, a club founded in 2023 and competing in the third tier of UAE football.
In an exclusive interview with The National, he talks about his decision to move to Dubai, ambitions with the Arabian Falcons and the growing expectations at former club Newcastle.
Move to Arabian Falcons
The call that brought Shelvey to the UAE came from Harry Agombar, coach at Arabian Falcons and a former midfielder himself. The two played together as boys at Arsenal's youth academy, but more than two decades had passed when Agombar called his old friend and invited him to join him in Dubai.
“I wanted to move out anyway," said Shelvey. "I spoke about it for years to be fair and then I got the call off Harry, and I've known Harry since I was like eight years old, and I hadn't spoken to him until he picked up the phone and called me.
"So it was like 20 years since we spoke. Maybe even longer than that and then flew out, had a meeting with Falcons and a few other clubs but went with Harry.”
"The way Harry likes to play football suits me. I still had the hunger to play. I didn't want to just come out here, and I still have the hunger to train every day and play football. I'm lucky that I found a club in Falcons that are doing everything right."
The affection is mutual. Agombar, who started coaching after injuries curtailed his own playing career, says that having someone with Shelvey's experience in the dressing room is vital at a fledgling club.
"We'll never turn down that standard and that quality," Agombar said. "Obviously, Jonjo has played at the highest level and played for England and played in the best competitions. We know how important it is to have someone like that around the place with the younger boys that we have in the group."
Controversy and criticism of UK
Shelvey's move to Dubai has not passed without controversy in the UK. In an interview with the BBC last October, his assessment of modern Britain drew sharp criticism, but Shelvey insists everything he said "was the truth”.
"You look at the news every day from back home and there's someone getting stabbed, there's kids getting their phones taken, their watches taken, and like, why would I want to bring my children up in that environment?" Shelvey said.
"I mean, we go to the mall out here and my two eldest girls just go, they'll go off and have a wander around the shops and I've got no worries. My eldest she's 11 now and every morning she comes, gets on her scooter, she goes and gets me a Starbucks around the corner, where back home I could never let that happen.
“I just think the UK is going one way. It's gone downhill. I mean, when I was a kid growing up, it was a fantastic place to live. You could go out and play and everything was fine. There was never any trouble. But now it's just every time you read, someone's getting stabbed and things like that. And I don't want to bring my children up in that environment.”
He says he has sold his house in England and has no plans to return. “I see it as like I've moved my children out here and my wife and they love it here," he added. "The kids are settled here in school straight away, they've made friends straight away.”
In defence of Howe at Newcastle
Shelvey's affection for Newcastle comes over crystal clear. He would spend the best part of seven seasons at the club and the city, he says, would have been his permanent home had Dubai not beckoned him.
He believes that the success Howe has delivered - their first domestic silverware in 70 years, two top-five finishes and securing Uefa Champions League football - has resulted in the manager facing heightened expectations and unwarranted criticism.
“I can see where it's coming from because he'd given Newcastle such success in such a short space of time the fans have become accustomed to it," said Shelvey, who left the club in January 2023.
"They expect to be in the top four now, they expect to be progressing through the cups and in the Champions League every year. But he's probably shot himself in the foot in terms of how quickly he's had that success.”
Yet he is unequivocal in his defence of the manager, insisting Howe is the finest coach he has worked under and that their relationship remains strong.
Shelvey mentions that Howe has offered an open invitation for him to return to the training ground and observe sessions, an invitation he is considering extending to Agombar and the Arabian Falcons coaching staff.
“He doesn't deserve that criticism because, for me, he was the best manager that I worked under," he said. "I mean, I was only with him for a short space of time, but he was really top-notch in the finer details.”
Coaching, ambition and the future
Shelvey is working towards his Uefa A Licence and coaches four evenings a week with Ellevate Football Academy in Dubai, which has grown from 30 children to more than 200, and has attracted visits from Premier League stars such as Jack Grealish, Cole Palmer and James Maddison.
He has just turned down an offer to become assistant manager at Konyaspor in Turkey, a decision he took with his family in mind. “I just thought I had just moved my family over [to Dubai] and I can't just then disappear and leave them," he said. "I knew that if I went down that route now, then I'm basically saying bye to playing football. So I wasn't ready to give it up yet.”
In any case, Shelvey says the ambitions of Arabian Falcons alignswith his own. The club, which won the league and went unbeaten in its inaugural 2023/24 season, is now building for the long term. An academy is being established and their ultimate aim is to reach the UAE Pro League, the top tier of Emirati football.
Agombar articulates the club's vision clearly, wanting to "be successful on and off the pitch" not merely focusing on the first team. "We're trying to create a club that's super professional and as best as we can," he said. "We're in a good moment this year and now it's about finishing the season really strong."
As for Shelvey, he’s not ready to retire, believing he still has a lot to give as a player and much to learn as a coach. “The Falcons have talked about giving me another year's contract. I only signed for a year," he said.
"So I'll be open to that and just see what happens. And then the coaching side of it, I just keep doing the hours on the training pitch and growing and taking it all in and learning new ways how to play football.”
