Newcastle United are set to complete and announce the signing of Chelsea’s Lewis Hall on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy at the end of this season.
The fee for the 18 year-old Slough-born England U21 international is set to be £35 million once he joins Newcastle on a permanent deal at the end of the season.
Hall is a versatile player but has primarily played at left-back or left wing-back in his short Chelsea career so far, albeit he has the ability to also play in midfield and offer cover in a variety of positions for Eddie Howe’s side.
Hall began his youth career with Binfield before joining Chelsea in 2012. Whilst with The Blues, he has gone on to make 12 first-team appearances for the club.
He is Newcastle’s fifth signing of the summer after the early summer addition of Sandro Tonali from AC Milan, Harvey Barnes of Leicester City and Southampton’s Tino Livramento. They also added Yakouba Minteh from Midtjylland before loaning him immediately to Feyenoord.
It is estimated that the club have spent over £130 million on their five additions so far but Eddie Howe has said Hall’s arrival will be their last of this summer’s transfer window.
Chelsea’s very busy summer has continued on from last year and Hall is one of an almost incredible amount of players to depart Stamford Bridge in the last few months. With Romelu Lukaku, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech all set to depart in the last few weeks as well as interest remaining in Conor Gallagher, the exodus could continue.
So far this summer, they have brought in over £200 million in player sales with Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Kai Havertz, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ethan Ampadu, Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante and Edouard Mendy all leaving on permanent deals.