Double deal ‘completed’ as Newcastle United boost ranks with highly-rated duo

Newcastle United have reportedly completed the signings of two promising young talents from clubs in the EFL and National League.

Although there has been no official confirmation from the Magpies, Twitter user ‘The Secret Scout’ has revealed United have completed the signings of Port Vale winger Michael Mills and Oldham Athletic prospect Sam Alabi, with both players set for join the Magpies Under-16s setup next season.

The account tweeted: ‘Newcastle have completed deals to sign two promising players Michael Mills (Port Vale) and Sam Alabi (Oldham) Both will go into Newcastle’s full time program at u15/16s’. Mills is said to have been on trial on Tyneside in recent weeks and Newcastle have now seen off interest from a number of other clubs to land the 14-year-old for an initial fee believed to be worth around £200,000.

The moves are part of a determination to strengthen United’s academy ranks and comes less than a week after a new youth recruitment setup was announced. According to Training Ground Guru, the new look setup includes a number of recruitment staff brought in from other clubs across the Premier League and EFL and also sees several existing members of the academy ranks receive new roles.

Paul Midgley (Head of Head of Youth Recruitment) and Paul McLaren (Head of National Youth Scouting 13s to 18s) have joined from Manchester City, while Edward Black (Lead Academy Scout U9s to U14s), Delroy Ebanks (Academy Lead Scout for the South of England), Andy Basterfield (North West Regional scout) and Claire Burrows are among those to join from Arsenal, West Ham, Manchester United and Leicester City, respectively.

Staff promoted from within are Paul Baker (Lead North Scout), Glenn Craggs (Head of Local Recruitment), Drew Beardsley (U5-U11 Recruitment Officer) and Michael Hutchinson (U9-U14 Assistant Local Professional Club Scout).

Other employees are Dean Edwards (North West West Regional scout), Amos Mukiza (Midlands Regional Scout), Ross Thorpe: (Midlands Regional Scout), Abdul Habib (London/ South East Regional Scout), Dan Risk: (London/ South Regional Scout) and Andy Gill (South West Regional Scout).