Newcastle United have been very active in the youth market in recent seasons.
This campaign is no different as sporting director Paul Mitchell has worked his new transfer strategy into recruitment plans.
Mitchell wants to sign young players from abroad and has already started doing exactly that since joining Newcastle United in July 2024.
Kyle Fitzgerald joined Newcastle United from Galway United in January, following in the footsteps of Toon defender Alex Murphy who joined from the same club in 2022.
Vakhtang Salia has agreed to join Newcastle in the summer – the 17-year-old attacker visited the training ground and St James’ Park in January ahead of the move.
18-year-old Turkish midfielder Baran Yildiz quietly joined Newcastle in the latter stages of the January transfer window from Genclerbirligi. He has been included in Newcastle’s Premier League squad for the rest of the season.
Elsewhere, Newcastle entered pre-contract talks with Antonio Cordero who plays for La Liga 2 side Malaga. Reports suggested that Barcelona and Real Madrid also wanted to sign the 18-year-old but Newcastle look to have beaten the two Spanish giants to his signature.
With young players joining the club left, right and centre, Mitchell has put a plan in place for their futures.
Newcastle set to loan out new youth signings
Throughout the January transfer window, Newcastle fans saw many young players leave on loan to give them more opportunities to gain vital experience in professional football.
Charlie McArthur suffered an early setback in his loan spell at Carlisle United when manager and former Newcastle defender Mike Williamson was sacked with the club rock bottom of League Two.
Murphy scored his first Bolton goal on Saturday as the Trotters beat Rob Elliot’s Crawley Town 4-3 in League One. Elsewhere, the likes of Joe White and Harrison Ashby have featured for their respective clubs on many occasions.
According to the Daily Mail, Newcastle’s head of strategic partnerships Jack Ross has been tasked with finding suitable clubs for the new arrivals after it was revealed that they would likely be sent out on loan for their first season at the club.
Whether that will be the same case for Cordero remains to be seen. He has impressed for Malaga this season, scoring four goals and bagging six assists in 24 games.
- Who is Antonio Cordero? Meet the exciting Spanish teenager Newcastle United have signed on a free transfer
Paul Mitchell carrying on Dan Ashworth’s work at Newcastle
Mitchell was the successor to previous sporting director Dan Ashworth who left Newcastle to pursue a move to Manchester United in 2024. However, things did not work out in the North West, and Ashworth was left Man United in November, just five months after joining.
Before he left the club, Ashworth had begun the work that Mitchell is doing now. Newcastle signed Yankuba Minteh in 2023 but fans never got to see him play for the Magpies as he was sold to Brighton to help manage the club’s ongoing PSR problems.
Ashworth had a hand in Garang Kuol’s Newcastle move. Things have not fully worked out for the young attacker yet, but recent performances have shown he has a lot of quality.
Alfie Harrison joined Newcastle in January 2024 for around £3m – he has trained with Newcastle’s first-team in recent months and has proven that he could be of use to Eddie Howe in the future.
While Ashworth left the club on bad terms, some could argue that he built the foundations for Newcastle’s academy.
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