As confirmed by the club’s official website, NUFC striker Adam Armstrong has been recalled from his loan move to Bolton and is close to joining Blackburn for the second-half of the season – meaning he WON’T be included in Benitez’s FA Cup squad to face Luton tomorrow.
The 20-year-old has scored just three goals during 16 starts and seven substitute appearances for a struggling Bolton side over the first half of the season.
He is now back on Tyneside, and the Chronicle have confirmed that he is close to agreeing a short-term loan deal to join Blackburn for the second half of the season – which means he will be unable to feature tomorrow due to players being unable to play for three clubs in one season.
Benitez will be keen to rotate and hand well earned rests to his players after their efforts over festive period, so there’ll have been many keen on seeing Armstrong get his chance at St James’, however this won’t happen.
I also suspect he’ll be shown the exit door on a permanent basis next summer. A return to League One on loan shows that he’s not really been able to take his Coventry loan form into the second tier, meaning he’s shown little to prove he could be anywhere near good enough for us in the top flight.
On the topic of loan deals, NUFC youngsters Sean Longstaff has agreed an extension with Blackpool after an impressive few months with the Seasiders, while Bradford have won the race to extend Alex Gilliead’s loan deal to the end of the season.
See below for more details on Longstaff, Gilliead and Armstrong after some movement on the loan front over the past 24 hours:
Newcastle United have agreed to extend @seanlongstaff97's loan spell with @BlackpoolFC until the end of the season.
?? https://t.co/YHS8sSLAfK #NUFC pic.twitter.com/dZVEdRaNCo
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 4, 2018
Midfielder @AlexGilliead has extended his loan spell at @officialbantams until the end of the season.
?? https://t.co/4kp60kw1PC #NUFC pic.twitter.com/5VkSUkNurU
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 4, 2018
Forward @AdamArma9 has returned to Newcastle United after spending the first half of the season on loan with @SkyBetChamp side @OfficialBWFC.
?? https://t.co/dpyiQXn1Oy #NUFC pic.twitter.com/Db8y31Swsi
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) January 4, 2018