'Always' - Newcastle United consider loan move for former Manchester City midfielder

The highly-rated teenager only joined from Manchester City in January but his eye-catching performances for the under-21s earned him a call-up to Eddie Howe’s first-team in pre-season.

Harrison was first included in the squad that travelled to Adidas’ Herzogenaurach headquarters and played the second-half in a behind closed doors friendly against SpVgg Unterhaching.

Returning to UK soil, the 18-year-old was introduced with half an hour go at Hull City before making the trip to Tokyo, where he came on as a substitute in both matches against Urawa Red Diamonds and Yokohama F.Marinos.

His positive cameos led to a first St James’ Park start in the 1-0 win versus Stade Brestois on Saturday. While a loan exit for 17-year-old Trevan Sanusi was ruled out, head coach Eddie Howe left the door open for Harrison.

“We’ll always make that decision for the individual,” said Howe. “Trevan [Sanusi] I can definitely say will stay with us, more from a physical perspective as he’s got a lot of growth in that area. But Alfie, we'll make a decision on him.

“With all the young players that have been heavily involved during pre-season, I think it’s been great to expose them to the jump in level. Some will go back to the under-23s and others may stay with us.” 

Having reportedly attracted interest from West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion, Celtic, Valencia, Borussia Dortmund and Nice, key to convincing Harrison to join Newcastle was head of youth recruitment Paul Midgley.

Talks are understood to have centred around Harrison having a clear path towards first-team action. He is under contract with Newcastle until 2026.

After completing his move to St James’ Park, Harrison said: "The size of the club and what it has got going for it is massive for me. It's got a huge, passionate fanbase and I'm looking to really push on with my career now.

"If I was a kid now, looking at me signing for Newcastle United, it's what dreams are made of. I'm really looking forward to what is coming and how I can progress in the coming years.”