Newcastle United make ‘vitally important’ transfer move as deal triggered for £28m star.
Eddie Howe has revealed Newcastle United jumped at the opportunity to sign Lewis Hall last year in fear they’d miss out later down the line.
Hall joined the Magpies from Chelsea in the summer of 2023, initially on loan before the move turned permanent for an initial £28million.
The Slough-born left-back had a tough start to life on Tyneside, making just one Premier League start before April. But from then onwards, Hall has gone from strength to strength.
And the last seven days perhaps sum up how far he has come. Hall starred in both matches against Chelsea and arguably put in his best Newcastle performance to date by keeping Buyako Saka quiet in Saturday’s 1-0 victory at home to Arsenal.
Reflecting on Hall’s progress, Howe said: “I believe in development. It’s very, very difficult to sign young players, which Lewis was when we initially signed him, and then for them to come straight into your team.
“There was a big transfer fee attached to his name, and I think that was the issue for everybody, they wanted to see him straight away. We knew he had a bit of work to do to get to the level where we needed him to be.
“The challenge then for Lewis is to accept he’s come for a big transfer fee, but then actually do the work. I’ve seen players who haven’t responded well to that. To Lewis’ great credit, he got his head down and did the work.
“He worked incredibly hard, double sessions after training, a lot of review and analysis into how he was getting on. We had no doubt that he would step into the team and hopefully take his opportunities when they came.
“I thought he really grabbed it towards the end of last season, and he hasn’t looked back at the beginning of this. I still feel there’s more growth and development in his game, but I think he’s in a really good place and has started the season very well.”
