Yes, Hall is bitterly disappointed not to be in the United States with team-mates Dan Burn and Tino Livramento, who wouldn’t be? But instead of blaming Howe for playing him at right-back on a couple of occasions towards the end of last season, Hall feels he owes the Newcastle boss a huge debt of thanks for helping to thrust him into the international picture in the first place. Had it not been for Howe’s faith and careful handling of his development following his move from Chelsea, the 21-year-old would have been nowhere near the England set-up.
So, story over then. Sadly, that’s unlikely. Having wrapped up Anthony Gordon’s departure right at the start of the summer, the Newcastle hierarchy would have been hoping for a few months when their star names were not being linked here, there and everywhere and potentially unsettled. That’s almost certainly not how things are going to work though.
In Hall, Livramento and Sandro Tonali, Newcastle boast three prize assets who are of interest to other clubs. And as last summer’s Alexander Isak saga proved, a constant dripping of speculation and rumour can quickly turn into a flood. Even the most level-headed of players can be unsettled by relentless questions and headlines over their future.
Newcastle will claim they have learned their lesson from the Isak disaster. Senior figures now accept they should either have jettisoned Isak as soon as it became clear he was having doubts about staying on Tyneside or held firm and rejected whatever Liverpool threw at them. Caving in late in the day was the worst possible outcome, a mistake Newcastle’s executive team are adamant they will not be repeating this summer.
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Let’s see if they have the resolve to stick to their word. Manchester United clearly like Hall, and at some stage, there is every chance they will make a bid for the full-back. Once Livramento has finished at the World Cup, there is every likelihood his future will once again be the subject of much debate. Manchester City and Arsenal have been heavily linked in the past – it is unlikely that their interest has gone away.
Then, there is Tonali. Things have been fairly quiet with the Italian in the last couple of weeks, but given his agent’s track record in terms of making incendiary comments and not being afraid to link his client with other clubs, that seems likely to change one attention starts turning to pre-season later in the summer. Manchester United, desperate for a central midfielder and seemingly running out of options, would be logical suitors for Tonali too.
All of which means Newcastle’s senior figures had better strap themselves in for an awkward summer. They will want to stand firm, but as they found out last summer, that can be easier said than done if a player starts getting itchy feet. The club are adamant their succession planning is much better now than it was 12 months ago, hence the speed with which they have stepped up their interest in Osasuna’s Victor Munoz following Gordon’s departure. If Hall was to leave, they have left-back targets in mind. If Tonali is sold, they know where they want to go to recruit a central-midfielder.
All great in theory, but still potentially messy in practice, with this week’s developments over Hall highlighting just how quickly stories and events can take on a life of their own. That’s the reality at any club, but Newcastle are particularly vulnerable to such tales given the big-name players on their books and the fact that their chief executive, David Hopkinson, admitted earlier this year that the club’s strategy was to “buy well and sell well” and that ‘star names’ could leave as long as it was “on our terms”.
What that means for Hall, Tonali and Livramento remains to be seen, but this week’s headlines surrounding the former are unlikely to be the last that make for uncomfortable reading this summer.
Nevertheless, Newcastle have to stand firm and stick to their plan. That didn’t happen last summer, with catastrophic consequences. The mistakes that caused so much damage to last season’s efforts cannot be allowed to happen again.