Harrison Ashby is yet to make a senior appearance for Newcastle United since arriving in January, but the youngster has finally made his youth debut.
Newcastle‘s Under-21s were in action on Monday afternoon, taking on Norwich City in a Premier League 2 fixture.
Team news caught the attention of Toon fans for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Ryan Fraser was involved. It was his first appearance since being dropped from the first-team by Eddie Howe. Secondly, Ashby was included in a Newcastle lineup for the first time since becoming a Magpie.
The 21-year-old has suffered with injury since arriving from West Ham, and has trained with the first-team when he has been fit to do so. However, he had not played any minutes in a black and white shirt until Monday.
Ashby certainly made up for lost time, scoring and providing an assist in the first half. He played 62 minutes, helping Newcastle win 4-3 in what proved to be a thriller.
The right-back is hoping to become a future star at St James’ Park, and has even likened himself to Kieran Trippier. And Eddie Howe will have seen exactly why on Monday, having witnessed Ashby’s two goal contributions in person.
Harrison Ashby delivers social media message after first Newcastle appearance
After the game, Ashby took to his official Instagram account to comment on his first appearance since November. That was in a Premier League 2 game for West Ham against Tottenham.
Alongside a selection of pictures from the win over Norwich, Ashby wrote: “Oh it’s good to be back.”
He received a reply from teammate Amadou Diallo, who also scored. He replied: “Welcome back bro.”
It was quite the introduction from Ashby, who has endured a frustrating start to life on Tyneside since his January arrival.
More than two months after signing, he has finally made an appearance – albeit for the youth side – and proved why he was brought to the club.
Newcastle need an attacking force who can take Trippier’s place at right-back in the future, and Ashby’s first Toon outing suggests he can do just that.
Hopefully he continues to build up his fitness in the coming weeks and we can eventually see him involved in a Premier League squad.
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