· December 17 2024, 12:00
Whatever your feelings are on Newcastle United's performances overall this season, you'd likely be hard-pressed to find much negative to say about Lewis Hall.
After being made to ride the bench for most of last season, Newcastle fans were starting to wonder why we'd even brought Lewis Hall into the side at all and were even wondering if Eddie Howe was deliberately trying to avoid triggering the obligation to buy from Chelsea.
Hall arrived on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy for £28 million depending on certain criteria being met which many suspected would be a performance-related clause. It turns out that it was dependent on Newcastle's league position and as such, Hall became a permanent acquisition in the summer.
Since then, Newcastle have never looked back as Eddie Howe's patient approach appears to have paid dividends with Hall being outstanding this season and even breaking into the senior England squad.
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Eddie Howe has called Lewis Hall a 'shining light'
Eddie Howe spoke to the media this morning ahead of tomorrow's Carabao Cup quarter-final against Brentford where he was asked his opinion on Hall's season so far.
"Lewis has been very consistent. He has been a shining light for us, for someone so young that is not easy to do. I think his technical ability has been outstanding, defensively he has been pretty good, how he has handled himself and his maturity on and off the pitch has been high level."
Obviously, there have been moments in games where Hall has looked slightly out of his depth, but they are just moments rather than whole games and for such a young player, lapses are to be expected.
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Will Thomas Tuchel stick with Lewis Hall when he names his first England squad?
Chelsea must be regretting setting his price so low now as £28 million is looking like an absolute steal.
Time will tell if incoming England boss Thomas Tuchel sticks with Hall, as he was called up by interim boss Lee Carsley. Seeing how Hall has been playing this season, Tuchel would be crazy to ignore him.
The two worked together at Chelsea so Tuchel has first-hand knowledge of Hall's quality, so we expect that he'll retain his place in January.