Lewis Hall, who will be watching from the stands at St James’ Park on Saturday, will make his whirlwind summer move from Chelsea to Newcastle.
The 19-year-old had been at Chelsea since the age of 8 and went on to sign a new long-term contract with Newcastle two weeks later.
Firstly, Hall was loaned out, meaning he is not eligible when Chelsea take on Newcastle in the Premier League, but the deal will be permanent for £28m next summer.
The move angered a giant segment of Chelsea fans, who were dissatisfied with wasting the club’s academy player of the season to an opponent.
During a nightmarish crusade for Chelsea last season, Hall was one of the few positive and inspired players in 11 first-team appearances.
Chelsea acknowledged his potential offers and, first of all, rejected by the clubs, adding Newcastle, to link the beloved teenager to his first senior contract.
He connected with a loan spell at Crystal Palace and a number of unrelated occasions contributed to his eventual departure.
Chelsea saw their relationship with Palace put a strain on negotiations to sign Michael Olise, which ultimately resulted in the winger signing a new contract in south London.
The Blues then beat Liverpool and signed Moisés Caicedo for £115m. They beat Liverpool three days later and signed Romeo Lavia for £55 million.
Hall is a natural midfielder and either deal has hurt his chances of playing, as he has lost minutes to another new signing, Mauricio Pochettino, in pre-season.
Having played a lot at left-back last season, he had Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella and returning player Ian Maatsen as competitors.
Chelsea, who spent more than expected to win two bidding wars with Liverpool, turned to the academy to increase the budget to balance the books and comply with Financial Fair Play rules.
Selling some local players would be a “pure profit” on the books and in the final days of the transfer window, Chelsea accepted offers from Nottingham Forest for Trevoh Chalobah, Burnley for Maatsen and Newcastle for Hall.
Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have a close relationship with the Reuben brothers, who grew up supporting Chelsea and are part of Newcastle’s ownership, as do Newcastle co-owners Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Amanda Staveley.
The respective agreements directly negotiated the Hall agreement, with the Chalobah and Maatsen agreements failing.
Hall has already shown Newcastle that Chelsea could let him go.
He made his Champions League debut and scored a very good first professional goal for Manchester United in a 3–0 Carabao Cup win at Old Trafford.
Eddie Howe has provided the England under-21 international, who has made five appearances in all competitions.
The terms of his loan deal allow him to play on Saturday, when Chelsea and Newcastle face off on and off the pitch in the race for next season’s Champions League.
But, with a busy winter season ahead and an injury crisis at St James’ Park, Hall can play a bigger role at the club his family supports after voluntarily making a decision he never saw coming.
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