FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Newcastle United - Eddie Howe Press Conference - St James' Park, Newcastle, Britain - November 10, 2021 Newcastle manger Eddie Howe poses with a shirt during the presentation Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith/File Photo
Newcastle United double signing confirmed with behind the scenes St James’ Park images
Newcastle United have made another new signing at the club’s academy this summer.
Winger Michael Mills has joined Newcastle from Port Vale after a six-figure fee was agreed between the two clubs. The 14-year-old will be part of The Young Magpies’ Under-15s and Under-16s squads for the 2023-24 season.
The youngster joins after impressing during a trial period at the club.
An image showing Mills holding up a Newcastle United home shirt with ‘Mills 11’ on the back shared on social media via ‘The Secret Scout’. The account also recently posted an image showing that The Magpies have signed Sam Alabi from National League side Oldham Athletic.
Alabi is a left-footed box-to-box midfielder who will also join up with the same age groups as Mills for the upcoming season. He was pictured with a Newcastle shirt with ‘Alabi 8’ on the back.
The club have also recently signed striker Kacey Wooster from Southend United.
Since Dan Ashworth’s appointment as sporting director at Newcastle last summer, the club has made a significant investment into the academy infrastructure. The Magpies handed a debut to 17-year-old midfielder Lewis Miley at Chelsea last season with the teenager becoming the club’s youngest ever Premier League player in the process.
In addition, Under-21s players Dylan Stephenson, Jay Turner-Cooke, Joe White, Alex Murphy, Lucas De Bolle, Ben Parkinson, Michael Ndiweni, Charlie Wiggett, Remi Savage and Jamie Miley have also featured for the first-team in friendly matches over the past 12 months.
Newcastle have made several appointments behind the scenes at the academy with new scouting, coaching and analyst positions filled. The club has also entered into a ‘strategic relationship’ with Northern Ireland league champions Larne with the potential for young players to move between clubs in either direction to aid their development.
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Chelsea have beaten Newcastle United to a lot of young talents over the past six months, from Andrey Santos to Angelo Gabriel.
However, now Newcastle are looking to get some sort of revenge as they try to tempt Lewis Hall to swap Stamford Bridge for St James’ Park.
The 18-year-old is a target for Eddie Howe, who is keen to sign a left-back. That is one position that Hall can play, as Newcastle found out last season.
The teenager actually made his Premier League debut at St James’ Park, operating at left wing-back for the Blues during a 1-0 win for Howe’s side.
That was one of nine Premier League appearances for Hall last season, who can also play as a centre-midfielder. He has been described as a ‘special‘ talent by Pat Nevin, and that is why Newcastle are keen to bring him to the North East.
Newcastle interested in Lewis Hall
According to journalist Ben Jacobs, Hall is definitely a player who is on Newcastle’s radar. He spoke to NUFC Matters on YouTube about the Magpies’ interest in the youngster.
“Hall is on Newcastle’s radar for sure,” he said.
“I’m not aware that they’ve made a bid at this point but I think the feeling in the Chelsea camp is that he’ll be available, him and Trevoh Chalobah are both on the market.
“Newcastle may look at Hall but he’s obviously younger, still one for the future.”
What Chelsea plan to do with the teenager
But while Newcastle want Hall, Chelsea do not want to lose Hall. It was recently reported that Mauricio Pochettino’s side have no plans to sell the academy product.
Instead, they have a different idea.
According to Di Marzio, Hall is expected to leave Chelsea on loan this season as he goes in search of senior minutes.
While that might open the door for Newcastle, a deal would be a waste of time. Loaning Hall would only be worthwhile for the Magpies if it included an option or obligation to buy at the end of it – and there is no way Chelsea are going to agree to that.
There would be no point in Newcastle signing Hall on loan, as it would just mean we are developing Chelsea’s player for them.
He may have been identified as a potential star of the future by Toon officials, but it looks like it is going to be impossible to do a deal.
