Newcastle United academy graduate Joe White has left the club on a permanent basis after 10 years.
Joe White made four Premier League appearances for Newcastle United back in the 2023/24 season, totalling 12 minutes (not including stoppage time).
He'd been in and around the first team in training and pre-seasons and was spotted on the bench for the first team several times, but never quite managed to make the breakthrough.
After joining the academy in 2016, White went on to have several loan spells away from the club as the Magpies tried to get his experience up, spending time at Hartlepool United, Exeter City, Crewe Alexandra, MK Dons, Leyton Orient and Bradford City.
Joe White has moved to Crewe Alexandra
On Thursday morning, Newcastle United confirmed that White had left the club on a permanent basis, signing for one of his former loan clubs, Crewe Alexandra.
Joe White did well in his loan spell at Crewe in the first half of the 2023/24 season, scoring three goals in 20 appearances, and it seems The Railwaymen didn't forget about him.
Crewe finished 11th in League Two last season and will be hoping the 23-year-old will be able to help them improve on that finish next season.
Joe White's move illustrates a point
Joe White always seemed like one of those players who would make it into the first team at Newcastle, and is one of those whose name was mentioned by fans when making a point that 'Eddie Howe never plays kids'.
The fact that his first permanent move away from the club is to a League Two side should give a good indication as to why 'Eddie Howe doesn't play the kids'.
Howe sees these lads in training every day, and he will have a good idea who is Premier League ready and who isn't. Just because we've seen glimpses of these youngsters in action, or we've seen them floating around the first-team squad, or because they turn out mint on Football Manager, it doesn't mean they're ready for the big leap to the first team.
We don't mean any of that to be disrespectful to Joe White; we wish him the best of luck at Crewe, but this move is the perfect example of why fans shouting for the kids to start is a facile argument.