Lewis Hall has been a revelation for Newcastle United since he secured his place in the starting lineup.

The 21-year-old had to be patient when he first arrived at Newcastle, as Eddie Howe wanted him to work on certain aspects of his game before he trusted him enough in the first team.

It was frustrating for Hall and for Newcastle fans who wanted to see what he was capable of, but it was all worth the wait.

Lewis Hall is probably the first name on the team sheet these days, showing his quality in possession along with some outstanding defensive displays, as we saw against Barcelona and Chelsea last week.

Hall claims to be taken with a pinch of salt

Given his performances and the praise he’s been getting from pundits, there are bound to be plenty of clubs talking about him when discussing their summer transfer plans.

But Caught Offside’s latest report on a potential move away for the England talent has plenty of holes in it, appearing as a poorly executed attempt to link another Newcastle star with a move just as he’s hitting the headlines for last week’s display against Lamine Yamal.

Their ‘sources claim that Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund and some unnamed La Liga sides are all ‘closely monitoring’ Hall, stating that discussions around any move would begin at the £65-70m mark.

We’re struggling to see how RB Leipzig, currently 5th in the Bundesliga, would stand any chance of signing Hall, while the figures stated feel too low for the country’s best left-back.

BBC spreading nonsense part of the problem?

While we’re sure there are clubs coveting Lewis Hall, because why wouldn’t they be? We’re always sceptical when a report mentions ‘sources’ without giving us any indication of who/what these sources are.

This one stinks of it being a slow news day, so Caught Offside made up an easy, believable story to farm some easy clicks. Again, that’s fine, it’s how the game is played, but our issue is the BBC running these stories in their Gossip Column along with reports from Football Insider and the biggest transfer toilet of all – Fichajes. Do better, BBC!

To be fair to Caught Offside, they do go on to say that it’s unlikely that Newcastle would sell Lewis Hall this summer. As far as we’re concerned, it would take a lot more than £65 million for us to even think about it.