‘Almost certain’: It’s nearly definite Newcastle will buy ‘special’ player next year – reporter

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Newcastle United announced their fifth signing of the summer earlier this week, with Lewis Hall arriving on loan from Chelsea.

Eddie Howe admitted that the club needed to get creative in the transfer window if there were to be any more arrivals, and Toon officials did exactly that.

Hall has joined on a season-long loan deal from Chelsea, but will become a permanent Magpie next summer. Newcastle have an obligation to buy the 18-year-old at the end of the season if certain ‘performance-related criteria‘. Those are the words of the club from the official announcement.

It is unclear what the criteria is, and suggests that there is actually a chance that Hall does not sign for Newcastle permanently in 2024.

However, the Athletic’s Chris Waugh has shed some more light on the situation and explained why Hall will almost certainly sign a permanent deal next year.

Newcastle will ‘almost certainly’ sign Lewis Hall next summer

Waugh has spoke about Newcastle signing Hall on the latest episode of Pod On The Tyne.

“This is another very interesting move,” he said.

“You look at the fee itself when the obligation is met, as it almost certainly will across the course of the season – I think it’s quite easy for the terms to be met on the obligation – then Newcastle are going to be paying around an initial £27million or £28million, could rise to the best part of £35million.

“For an 18-year-old who’s only played a dozen or so Premier League matches, that seems likely a lot of money. But he’s very highly rated, a lot of clubs were looking at him.”

No doubts over Hall deal for Newcastle

The Hall deal sounds very similar to the Chris Wood one from January. He joined Nottingham Forest on loan with an obligation to buy if certain criteria was met. It turned out he only needed to start three games for Steve Cooper’s side to make the move permanent.

Whether or not the terms are similar for Hall remains to be seen, but he will be eager to play as much as possible, starting this weekend against Liverpool. It would be a huge shock if he starts on Sunday, but it would be great to see him in action off the bench.

There is a lot of excitement surrounding the teenager, and Newcastle obviously have high hopes for him. That is why they are going to invest so much money in him when the deal becomes permanent next year.