If Newcastle United’s chaotic victory over Nottingham Forest proved one thing, it is that the future looks bright.
On a day when some of the most senior figures in the team looked shaky and uncertain, the Magpies two youngest players in the team were the outstanding performers.
Forest had no answer to 20-year-old Lewis Hall in the first half as he marauded forward from the left-back position he has made his own this season, picking up one official assist but playing a significant part in three of the four quickfire goals. Hall then showed the defensive ability he has worked so hard on since joining Newcastle with some important second half blocks and tackles.
He should add to his single England cap next month, and right now would be a good bet to be England’s left-back choice for the 2026 World Cup in a little over eighteen months’ time. Every game Hall plays makes the £28m Newcastle paid Chelsea for his services seem more and more like a bargain. With twelve league games to play he should be in with a shout for PFA Team of the Season and a nominee for Young Player of the Season.
The Magpies other young Lewis had his best game in the black and white against Forest. 18-year-old Lewis Miley outshone everybody else in the midfield on what was his first Premier League start of the season.
Miley was thrust into the team last season in the midst of the injury crisis and made 26 appearances (19 starts) before a back injury cut his season short. He was injured again at the start of the current campaign and has had to bide his time and continue his development largely out of the first team, but his performances when he has played have made it impossible for Howe to overlook him as a serious option. For a player of Miley’s age to have made 38 first team appearances is something remarkable while his peers are still playing under-21 football.
The composure and skill he demonstrated in scoring the equaliser against Forest (as against Bromley in the FA Cup last month) cannot easily be coached. Miley has incredible natural talent, and his effortless and graceful style of play is starting to make pundits outside of the NUFC bubble sit up and take notice.
Tino Livramento (22) brought up a century of senior club appearances on Sunday and is another realistic possibility to add to his single England cap in March. The fact Man City are thought to be watching him shows what a talent we have in Tino.
William Osula (21) has shown some positive signs in his cameo appearances and is hopefully taking in all of the coaching and advice he is receiving this season. Sven Botman (25), Anthony Gordon (24), Sandro Tonali (24) and Alexander Isak (25) while no longer regarded as promising youngsters all have their best years ahead of them.
Investing in the future
Although there is a core of young players in the first team squad, Paul Mitchell has work to do in bringing down the average age of the first team which will be a focus at senior level over the next few transfer windows. He is already well underway in addressing another part of his remit in stocking the academy with players for the future. Even before Mitchell, Newcastle recognised that they had to improve their youth system, which was another area neglected by Ashley.
Post-takeover investment in the academy has seen Newcastle pluck some of the best and brightest talents from clubs around England in the shape of Trevan Sanusi (Birmingham), Leo Shahar (Wolves) Michael Mills (Port Vale), Sam Alabi (Oldham), Rory Finneran (Blackburn) and Alfie Harrison (Manchester City). The first four are all now England youth internationals, as are summer recruits Jayden Koussou (West Brom) and Lesecond Yeutembip; a towering England U15 centre-back signed from Charlton.
They have also looked to the Irish market in picking up Alex Murphy, Kyle Fitzgerald and Cathal Heffernan, and there have been moves from further afield for Miodrag Pivas (Serbia), Vakhtang Salia (Georgia) and a reported deal for Antonia Cordero from Malaga in Spain. More locally, Sean Neave is a young striker making waves, and Lewis Miley has a younger brother, Mason, reportedly even better than him…
Regardless of whether these young players make the cut at first team level or not, they should be able to be sold on at a significant profit, which is an effective strategy for balancing the books in a PSR world, even if the set of circumstances which culminated in Elliott Anderson’s painful departure will not be allowed to repeat.
Youth football is a slow burn with patience required as players develop, but Newcastle have shown there is a pathway to the first team for those young players with the right attitude and attributes to make the step up. The two Lewises can be the flagbearers for the future stars of Newcastle United.
HWTL!
Even if they don’t make it whatever we get for them will be pure profit so win win.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
Want to praise the sporting director for a bright future? Praise Ashworth. And Nickson along with him. Mitchell would not have bought Hall and Livramento for the amounts they paid for them. He would have brought in “promising” guys for a couple of million from the second Bundesliga. Personally, I am sure that in the summer he will not be able to find a club to loan Saliya. He will play for the Newcastle juniors together with Yildiz. I do not understand why such transfers are needed. I do not believe in Osulu either, in, for example, Leicester, the youth is stronger. Now is not the time when you can find a great junior for 5-10 million. Mitchell is stuck in the past
hmd(Quote)
Huijsen should have been bought in the summer for the €30m Juve were asking for. But our transfer guru didn’t see the talent in him. Now they want to buy him for £50m
hmd(Quote)
@hmd
You don’t listen to those that are in the know like Howe who recently spoke about our lack of transfer activity as in his words ‘no one’s fault’ and the importance of the youth set up for future first team players and pure profit income stream from those that don’t make the grade with us.
We have not bothered with our academy at this club since I started supporting them in the 70’s.
You ask why such transfers are needed but you mention Hall and The near 30m pure profit Chelsea made from his sale.
Man city have made over 100m from the loan market since their takeover pure PSR profit and that’s not including sales.
Just look how much Chelsea make from those.
So that is why such transfers are needed to make us able to compete it won’t happen over night.
Just be thankful we’re beating clubs like Barca, Real, Liverpool and The Mancs to top talent it’s never happened before.
The academy is in the best shape it has ever been in for decades but we are playing catch up it won’t happen over night.
Absolutely glorious(Quote)
Mitchell has transformed the academy .. now let’s transform the first team in the summer with 2 or 3 high quality players
Mike(Quote)
Chelsea and Man City sell academy players, yes. But these are local guys, that is, 99% are English. Not Georgians, not Turks, not Serbs, but English. I am not against such transfers as Sanusi, Finneran and so on. On the contrary, I am very much for it. But I am against such transfers as Yildiz and the like
hmd(Quote)