Newcastle United chief reveals view on £1.5m signing Liverpool are raving about

One of the final disappointments of the Mike Ashley era at Newcastle United was the loss of talented teenager Bobby Clark to Liverpool.

Clark, son of Magpies legend Lee, had emerged as one of the country’s hottest prospects having established himself as an England youth international.

However, in August 2021, the club failed to hold onto the boyhood Newcastle fan, who moved to Anfield for a reported £1.5million. That, a clear example of United’s static state under the previous owner.

And to perhaps add some salt into the wounds, Clark has gone from strength to strength on Merseyside. He signed a five-year professional in February and has already made his Premier League and Carabao Cup debut.

The 17-year-old has also been out in Dubai with Liverpool’s first team as they prepare for the season restart, with Jurgen Klopp labelling Clark as a “really interesting player”.

With Newcastle now under new ownership and improvements to the academy constantly in motion, sporting director Dan Ashworth is keen to ensure talent like Clark remain on the club’s books - but admits it isn’t always possible.

“I don’t know the situation around Bobby - I don’t know the detail around it – but, ultimately, our goal is to make sure we do attract and retain the talent and manage that talent better than anybody else,” Ashworth said.

He added: “I think I’d be lying if I said that (a promising young player leaving) will never happen again.

“Ultimately, what you can’t control are different reasons why players want to go to a club. It might be a pathway, it might be money. It might be a family situation, or a link with that particular city – or that particular country.

“I think the more you can make players feel valued, the more you can give them evidence of a pathway to a first team, and the more the club are striving towards the targets we’d like to achieve, that gives a story and a reason for a young player or senior player to stay and be part of that journey.”

As well as improvements to the infrastructure such as employing new coaches, the Magpies have also moved to recruit highly-rated players from elsewhere. For example, Alex Murphy and Charlie McArthur were among those to arrival in the summer, while Garang Kuol will join in January from Central Coast Mariners.