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Eddie Howe has ruled out the possibility of Lewis Miley leaving Newcastle United on loan in January.
The 18-year-old has made just one first-team appearance since March and that was a brief cameo in the 2-0 Carabao Cup win over Chelsea. Miley missed the final part of last season with a back injury before fracturing his metatarsal in the off-season.
Due to the number of midfield options, Howe has struggled to hand Miley senior minutes, resulting in him featuring for the under-21s in recent weeks. He played 45 minutes against Chelsea on Monday and will be recalled to Howe’s squad for the next two matches against Brentford and Ipswich Town with Sean Longstaff and Joelinton suspended.
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“Lewis is an outstanding young player,” said Howe. “He’s had a difficult time with injuries so we’ve had to nurse him back and I thought the right path was for him to play games. He played last night [against Chelsea] albeit for a short period as he will be involved with us tomorrow. Getting his rhythm back is a really underrated thing.
“Players can rush that final part so when Lewis now plays in the first-team he will be at a really good level because of that. There's fierce competition in that area, when you look at the starting three we had in there on Saturday, outstanding players in their own right, then you've got Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff, two vastly experienced players behind those.
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“Lewis is going to be an outstanding player for this club for many, many years but we need to help his recovery back into the first-team well and he's now getting himself back into a position where he's able to play."
Although Howe has an array of midfielders, the United boss has confirmed Miley will be staying put amid suggestions could benefit from a loan spell: “Lewis will stay. He's too important for us."
Miley made 26 appearances during his breakthrough season with his goal in the 3-1 win over Fulham last December making him the club’s youngest-ever Premier League goalscorer.
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