Lewis Hall’s Newcastle United career has not got off to the best of starts.
The 19-year-old signed for Newcastle on loan from Chelsea during the summer, with the deal also including an obligation to buy for £28million if certain criteria is met.
The expectation has always been that he will become a permanent Toon player, and that the ‘loan before buying’ approach was just to get around financial fair play limitations.
Newcastle were planning for the future when they signed Hall, believing they had tied up their future fullbacks with him and Tino Livramento.
But while Livramento has excelled in black and white already, it has been a different story for Hall.
He has barely featured, starting just four games. In three of those games, he was brought off at half time. In the other, he netted a wonderful goal against Manchester United.
In recent weeks, Newcastle’s squad has been stretched beyond belief. But Hall has been available, yet Eddie Howe has not turned to the left-back. He has made just one appearance since the most recent international break, coming off the bench during the 4-1 defeat to Tottenham.
What Eddie Howe has said about Lewis Hall
It has led to a lot of confusion from Newcastle fans, who believe that there must be something wrong with Hall. For many, it does not make sense that Howe would refuse to play the teenager when he has barely any options.
Some have even debated whether the club have changed their mind about signing Hall, and there were even more eyebrows raised when Howe was asked if the defender had triggered the criteria to become a permanent Newcastle player yet during his pre-match press conference for the Fulham game.
“You’re probably asking the wrong man, I’m not 100% sure,” he said.
“It’s not mine [decision]. For me, he’s here now, he’s a Newcastle player. But I think there’s certain criteria he has to meet.”
Howe then went on to praise Hall, but admitted that it will take him time to become as good defensively as they want him to be.
Newcastle still expect to sign Lewis Hall from Chelsea
Howe’s comments have largely been taken out of context, and now the Chronicle’s Lee Ryder has provided an update on how Newcastle currently feel about signing Hall permanently from Chelsea.
He wrote on X: “It’s understood that Eddie Howe and #nufc expect Lewis Hall to achieve the necessary criteria of his loan deal. Newcastle still anticipate him to be a permanent signing.”
As it stands, Newcastle still expect to sign Hall, and so they should.
The noise surrounding him is a bit ridiculous. He is still an incredibly young player who barely has any senior experience under his belt.
He can’t be compared to Livramento, who had already played a full season in the Premier League before joining Newcastle. In contrast, Hall only had a handful of appearances in a Chelsea shirt.
He was brought to the club for the future, not the present. While we could certainly benefit from him right now, there should be no alarm bells ringing.
Calmness must prevail. It has taken players better than Hall longer to settle into life on Tyneside. Just look at Anthony Gordon, for example. He struggled to begin with, yet is now proving to be our best player this season.
It is frustrating to see Hall not used and it does beg questions about his current ability, but his time in black and white will come.
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