There has been a lot of buzz around Lewis Miley during pre-season.
Hailed as a “baller” by Bruno Guimaraes and having amazed his Newcastle teammates in training, Miley will be kept as part of Eddie Howe’s first-team squad for the coming campaign.
A 17-year-old academy graduate who has looked at home playing in the midfield this summer, it’s easy to see why there is such excitement.
Still, it is important to not get too carried away.
This is such a young man being thrust into the limelight at a team attracting an awful lot of attention these days.
As such, Howe is looking to protect him.
Why Eddie Howe brought Lewis Miley off against Fiorentina
Indeed, the teenager was brought off during Newcastle’s pre-season win over Fiorentina on Saturday and Howe has since explained his decision.
Speaking to The Athletic, Howe said: “I took him off to protect him- and that’s where I’ve got to be with him.
“These are important years for him – we’ve got to push him and protect him and make sure we nurture his talent.”
Such good man management
Football is frankly littered with tales of young players getting too much on their plate too soon.
Howe’s work on the coaching pitch since being appointed at Newcastle cannot be questioned. Clearly someone who enjoys developing and nurturing talents, Miley is in the safest hands possible as he begins life as a professional footballer playing for his boyhood club.
There has been a lot of buzz about the teenager and rightly so but the player’s welfare is of course the priority at all times.
Luckily for Newcastle, Howe looks exactly the man to ensure that happens.
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