‘Done and confirmed’ - Former Leeds United man set to join Newcastle United this week

Paul Midgley is ready to commence his role as Head of Youth Recruitment at Newcastle United - after an agreement was reached with Manchester City.

It was revealed over the weekend that Midgley would be leaving the Premier League champions after just seven months as a regional scout to join the revolution on Tyneside.

Both Fabrizio Romano and the Daily Mail’s Craig Hope have since announced that Midgley will get to work this week. “Paul Midgley to Newcastle, done and confirmed,” said Romano, while Hope tweeted: “Paul Midgley will start work at Newcastle this week, joining from Man City in academy recruitment role. More scouting appointments expected across all levels of club.”

Midgley, born in Teesside, enjoyed coaching roles at Stockton Town, England Schools and York City before taking on a recruitment role at Sunderland in 2017. Midgley spent just over two years at United’s Tyne-Wear rivals, where he combined his role with being a first-team coach at National League North side Spennymoor Town.

He stepped away from Spennymoor when he departed Sunderland in January 2020 to become Head of National Academy Recruitment at Leeds United. His work in overseeing and managing the recruitment of under 12s to 16s players earned him a switch to Man City in the summer.

However, after seven months at the Etihad Stadium, Midgley is returning to the North East with Newcastle to strengthen the club’s academy set up. Steve Harper, head of the academy, has been leading the academy drive under the wing of sporting director Dan Ashworth.

As well as increasing the number of coaches behind the scenes, the Magpies also paid fees for highly-rated trio Jude Smith, Charlie McArthur and Alex Murphy in the summer, while Garang Kuol, currently at the World Cup with Australia, will officially join in January.

Speaking recently, Harper said: “(The owners) are putting those levels in of sustainability and experts in the field who can grow the club in every department.

“The investment we’re getting in the academy as well, the changes we’re making there to build it and put a lot of things in place that weren’t there originally, where the returns are down the line.”