Newcastle working on deal for Chelsea's Lewis Hall
- Chelsea demanding over £30m for England Under-19 star Hall
- Crystal Palace had been in talks over loan deal
- Hall grew up Newcastle fan and is eager to make move to North East
Newcastle United are working on a deal to bring Chelsea youngster Lewis Hall to St James' Park, sources have confirmed to 90min.
Chelsea have decided to let Hall leave and they had initially hoped to loan him out, with Crystal Palace initially close to striking a deal for him to join for the season.
However, Newcastle have now made their approach and Hall is keen to make the move to the North East. Eddie Howe, despite already adding former Chelsea youngster Tino Livramento to his squad this summer, wants further full-back cover and they believe Hall is the ideal addition for them.
Chelsea want over £30m for the 18-year-old England Under-19 star, who is comfortable both in midfield and at left-back, and Newcastle are now working towards an agreement.
Financial Fair Play regulations remain a huge concern for Newcastle and it is believed they would ideally like to take Hall on loan but with a mandatory clause to make the move permanent in 2024, although it remains to be seen if Chelsea would sanction such a structure.
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Hall, who has family ties to Newcastle and grew up supporting the Magpies, coincidentally made his Premier League debut against Newcastle last November but has dropped down the pecking order under Mauricio Pochettino. Ben Chilwell is the first-choice left-back but Dutch starlet Ian Maatsen, who has returned to the club following a hugely successful loan spell at Burnley, is now ahead of him and featured in the weekend's draw with Liverpool. There is also Marc Cucurella, himself a player who Newcastle admire.
In terms of FFP, Newcastle CEO Darren Eales admitted earlier this week they are working hard to fit in.
Eales said: "We’re always looking to be flexible within the FFP parameters. We’re always going to look at an opportunity and if the right deal is there at the right price we’ll look at it. But it’s impossible to say on a specific player or position.
"As a club Newcastle United are always looking to spend to the limit so it will never be a case that we are not trying to spend what we can under the regulations. We’ve got this aspiration to be a top six club, a sustainable top six club. that’s the reality. It’s never that we’re looking for a bottom-line profit.
"We can only spend what we can spend. It’s the regime, the FFP regime has been in place and every club has to deal with them. For us what makes it a more exciting intellectual puzzle, if you put it that way, we know what the rules are. It’s about how do you spend best within that."
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