Jamal Lewis has had a tough time of it since arriving on Tyneside, but his game time hasn’t increased like some had hoped since Eddie Howe was appointed.
Lewis, who signed for £15m from Norwich in September 2020, has played just seven minutes of competitive football this calendar year – when he was subbed on for Kieran Trippier with NUFC winning 4-0 at Fulham in October.
Some fans saw the Carabao Cup clash against Bournemouth a good chance for the Northern Irish international to get some minutes, but Howe went for a full-strength squad. In fact, he’s not included him in any of his last four matchay squad in the Premier League.
At just 24, the left-back’s career is far from over but whether or not that is at Newcastle is another question. In fact, it feels more and more clear his future lies elsewhere, given he’s now third choice in a department we’ll be looking to improve before long.
The club has already shown its willingness to loan out experienced members of the squad if there is little view of them playing with Martin Dúbravka, Isaac Hayden, Matty Longstaff, Jeff Hendrick, Ciaran Clark and Kell Watts all sent to stretch their legs elsewhere.
While this is an avenue that seems the most likely to be explored, Newcastle could recoup a decent portion of their £15m investment into the Northern Irishman if they were to decide to sell him. Reputable website TransferMarkt’s evaluation of Lewis comes in at around £7m.
Lewis did play 76 minutes in the Toon’s mid-season fixture against Al-Hilal, but he finds himself below both Dan Burn and Matt Targett in the pecking order when the full squad is available. Howe also seems keen on young Irishman Alex Murphy in the u23 squad, who could fit in as a rotation option in an injury crisis without taking up a squad space as he is under-21.
