Fabrizio Romano has now claimed that Newcastle United have a genuine interest in young Chelsea full-back Lewis Hall.
Eddie Howe is still looking to bring in that one more signing to ensure Newcastle can comfortably compete on four fronts this season.
There’s still plenty of debate as to whether Eddie Howe is looking a right-sided centre-back or a left-back to add to Newcastle’s squad before the window shuts, although things seem to be swinging the way of a left-back.
Newcastle have ‘genuine’ interest in Chelsea full-back Lewis Hall
This week Newcastle have been linked with a firm interest in Marc Cucurella of Chelsea and Kieran Tierney of Arsenal, and another name that keeps appearing is that of Chelsea youngster Lewis Hall.
Fabrizio Romano tweeted late last night that he believes Newcastle’s interest in Hall is genuine but it’s going to be a hard deal to do: “Newcastle are keen on signing Lewis Hall from Chelsea as new fullback — as Crystal Palace deal is in stand-by. Hall signed new six year deal at Chelsea but could leave on loan. Not easy to find way due to FFP but Newcastle interest is genuine.”
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Crystal Palace were said to be close to a loan deal for the ‘amazing‘ 18-year-old last week but that deal has now stalled.
Newcastle, meanwhile, are reportedly at their limit with FFP and Eddie Howe has said that the club will need to be ‘creative‘ to get their next signing over the line.
A loan with an obligation to buy was touted as a possibility for Tierney and now a season-long loan is the most likely scenario if Newcastle were to go for Hall, but Chelsea are often reluctant to allow players to go to a direct rival on loan.
Chelsea have recently refused to loan players to Newcastle
Given that Hall has just put pen to paper on a new long-term deal at Chelsea it’s more likely that they would do a loan deal over a sale but if Newcastle could structure a deal where they have an option to buy at the end of the season for a decent sum then maybe Chelsea’s stance will change.
Of the three left-back options linked this week, Hall is the most exciting. At just 18 he’s already showing signs of being a top player. Marc Cucurella’s form has dropped significantly since moving to Chelsea and Kieran Tierney’s fitness is too big of a concern for a lot of Newcastle fans.
There’s still over two weeks until the window closes so there’s plenty of time for things to change, so we’ll have to wait and see if Newcastle can pull off an FFP miracle to land Lewis Hall.