There has been more good news about Newcastle’s efforts to sign a left-back before the end of the summer transfer window.

We have been linked with many left-sided defenders, including initially Arsenal’s Scottish left-back Kieran Tierney.

But Newcastle have turned their attention in recent days and weeks to Chelsea’s 18-year-old English left-back Lewis Hall.

News is that Chelsea wanted around £35M for the youngster, who has played for every English youth side through the U21 side.

He seems a prodigious young talent and news today in the Telegraph that Chelsea have accepted an initial fee of £28M for the Slough-born youngster, and there will be add-ons to that, depending on how Lewis does.

Maybe add-ons even up to £35M?

Lewis does not come cheap, but he’s an excellent player who can develop into a top-class player for us on Tyneside.

He is keen to join the club since his parents are Newcastle fans and he has supported the Magpies as a youngster.

This lad is already very good and he played 11 times for Chelsea last season:  Lewis made his debut for the Blues back in early January 2022, during an FA Cup third-round win against Chesterfield at Stamford Bridge.

He’s the type of young talent that Eddie Howe loves to coach, and I am sure Howe knows exactly the areas Hall can improve on if he does sign for Newcastle.

If we can get him through the door, which could happen in the next day or two, it will have been another remarkable transfer window for Newcastle.

We will have signed Sandro Tonali signed from AC Milan for around £52M (Toonali?), Harvey Barnes from Leicester for £38M, Tino Livramento from Southampton for £32M, and now Lewis Hall from Chelsea for (let’s say £32M) for a total of around £154M.

Hall will get a five-year deal so the cost of his transfer is amortized over that time, to help with the Financial Fair Play limits.

The transfers in are amortized over the length of the contract for FFP, but the transfer out we get the full amount immediately: that’s worth remembering.

All four players will be in the first-team squad for next season and with many players much better than last season, like Anthony Gordon, Elliot Anderson, Alexandar Isac, and others, our squad is definitely stronger than last season – and needs to be with all the games coming up.

Here are the lads in training for the tough trip to Manchester City on Saturday.

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And last but certainly not least, congratulations to our England Women’s team who beat Australia 3-1 yesterday in the semi-final of the Women’s World Cup to set up a final with Spain on Sunday.

We will be cheering hard for our women to become World Champions – wouldn’t that be something!!

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