Newcastle United’s senior side may be in the midst of a tough season, but the future looks bright on Tyneside.
Our Under 15 side are one of the best in world football right now, beating Man City and PSG in two finals over the past week, while our recruitment of young gems is beginning to ramp up.
At the end of March, it was revealed that Newcastle had agreed a deal in principle to land highly-rated Ecuadorian Johan Martinez, and it seems that transfer has moved a major step closer today.
Fabrizio Romano has revealed that documents have now been counter signed to confirm Johan Martinez’s proposed move from Newcastle from Independiente del Valle.
Signings off his post on X with ‘Here we go, confirmed’, Romano indicates that the teenager’s switch to St James’ Park is now a formality, with all parties completing the formalities.
The 16-year-old will only arrive on Tyneside when he turns 18, however, due to new rules regarding the transfer of overseas youngsters now England operate outside the EU.
After constant links to South American youngsters without much success, it looks like Newcastle are finally tapping into this market.
Martinez won’t arrive on Tyneside for some time yet, much like Vakhtang’s Salia’s wait to join until he turned 18, but he will join from one of the top Academies outside of Europe.
Independiente del Valle produced Moises Caicedo, who left the Ecudaor side to join Brighton, along with current Arsenal star Piero Hincapie and PSG centre-back Willian Pacho, who is in Champions League action against Liverpool tomorrow.
Only time will tell if Martinez will reach his potential in black and white, but this signing feels like a step in the right direction as Ross Wilson and new scout Thomas Federspiel widen the net in our search for future stars.