21-year-old Newcastle player now edging closer to loan move away from St. James’ Park

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Newcastle United’s Harrison Ashby looks set to sign for Swansea City on a season-long loan despite impressing in pre-season.

In January Newcastle parted with £3million to bring Harrison Ashby from West Ham after failing with a bid in the summer.

It looks like Swansea could be about to take Ashby off Newcastle’s hands for a season, however, after a report emerged on The BBC website claiming that Swansea were close to a deal for the 21-year-old.

Harrison Ashby has impressed for Newcastle during pre-season

Ashby has featured on the bench in the Premier League for Newcastle but has yet to make his competitive debut, however he has been given his moment in the spotlight during pre-season which he has seized with both hands.

Not only did Ashby score the winner against Scottish side Rangers, he has put in some impressive displays too with many fans feeling he’s done enough to earn the right to stay around at Newcastle next season.

I am one of those fans. I think we are going to need someone to cover Kieran Trippier next season as he can’t be expected to play every game with the extra fixtures the Champions League will bring.

However, the fact that Ashby looks close to a move to Swansea would suggest that Eddie Howe is confident that another full-back will be on the way to Newcastle with Southampton‘s Tino Livramento still strongly linked.

If no other player is brought in for that position that will leave Swedish international Emil Krafth as Trippier’s back-up as Javier Manquillo has been deemed surplus to requirements. Krafth hasn’t played since August last year when he picked up a nasty injury in the game against Tranmere Rovers.

A season in the Championship could be the making of Ashby

I wrote yesterday that I feel Newcastle should keep Ashby around next season. I’m under no illusion that he will feature regularly as long as Trippier remains fit, but I feel the games he would play would give him better experience than a season in the Championship.

He’s already shown in pre-season that he’s a capable player, and if he were to spend next season around the first-team, learning from Trippier and deputising when needed, then his development would benefit just as much from that as a move elsewhere.

It looks, though, that I won’t be getting my wish and Ashby will leave Newcastle move to Swansea for a season-long spell in the Championship. Who knows? It could be the making of him and I will be forced to eat my words.