Matt Bondswell not surprised Eddie Howe handed 17-year-old his Newcastle debut

Add as preferred source on Google

You would think that Sandro Tonali would be the talk of the Toon this summer after making his big-money move from AC Milan to Newcastle United however even he is being overshadowed by Lewis Miley.

Eyebrows were raised when youngster Lewis Miley was named on the bench for Newcastle‘s final three games of the Premier League season. He had featured on the bench once before earlier on in the campaign but with the clock counting down to the end of the season there was a feeling that Eddie Howe was going to give the youngster his Premier League debut.

Sure enough that debut came on the final game of the season in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea when the academy star was given 14 minutes to show the world what he can do. What he almost did was win the game for his boyhood club fizzing a shot from the edge of the area which struck the bar and went out.

Lewis Miley has continued to grab the headlines this summer

The buzz surrounding Miley, the younger of two brothers in Newcastle’s academy, has continued to grow with extremely mature performances in pre-season.

It seems that Mileys academy team mates aren’t at all surprised by his meteoric rise with young Matt Bondswell saying the lads were not shocked at all to see Miley given his first-team bow.

When Bondswell was asked by The Chronicle if he was surprised to see Miley’s cameo, he said: “No, definitely not. Some of us were fortunate to see him every day in training, and it was no surprise when he got that opportunity.”

Eddie Howe has opted to keep Lewis Miley at Newcastle next season

It’s not often professionals say they were “fortunate” to see someone in training, it’s even more rare that when they do they’re talking about a 17-year-old. You’d expect that kind of hyperbole to be reserved for someone like Bruno Guimaraes or Sandro Tonali.

Eddie Howe has confirmed that Miley will not be loaned out this season as he wants to continue his development and give him opportunities in Newcastle’s squad.

Fans will be expecting to see plenty of the youngster next season, but hopefully it won’t be forgotten that he’s still young and not to expect too much from the lad too soon.