Newcastle now officially have one of the 20 most exciting youngsters in world football

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It’s been a long time since Newcastle United have been able to boast having one of football’s most exciting young talents in their squad.

The academy has been neglected for decades and any bright sparks who show the slightest bit of talent would often get picked up by the bigger and more powerful clubs, like Bobby Clark now at Liverpool.

But those days are behind them and Newcastle now have a top prospect in Lewis Miley who has been included in NXGN’s top 50 wonderkids of 2024.

Miley named alongside Barcelona stars as top wonderkid

It’s been a breakthrough year for Miley who never would have expected to get this amount of first-team football after only making his debut at the end of last season against Chelsea.

Howe was really impressed with the teenager both in training and pre-season and wanted to get him involved with the squad this year, though he had not planned on using him this much.

With just two other available midfielders at times this season, Miley has really had to step up and arguably the biggest compliment he’s been given is that he looks like he’s been playing there for years.

Miley was ranked as the 19th best wonderkid on the list and at just 17-years-old he still has such a long way to go in his development. It will be exciting to see how he grows alongside the football club.

• READ MORE: Who is Lewis Miley? Age, Height, Position, Salary, School, Brothers

Howe will have a tough decision to make on Miley

It was questioned why Miley wasn’t sent out on loan at the beginning of the season, though that proved to be a smart decision from Howe given the midfielder crisis Newcastle suffered this season with so many first-team players unavailable.

However, next year they will be expecting the return of Joelinton and Sandro Tonali as well as exploring the market for a defensive midfielder, leaving Miley wondering where he stands in the team.

As Howe has repeatedly said, he doesn’t want Miley to be exposed to too much first-team football at an early stage, but next year could be different as he becomes a more well-rounded player.

That will again spark the debate as to whether he should be out on loan gaining more first-team experience, so Howe certainly has a tough decision to make in the summer.