Newcastle United midfielder handed unlikely call-up after 25-man Premier League squad snub

Eddie Howe’s side were in Carabao Cup third round action against League Two outfit AFC Wimbledon but 100 mile down the road in West Yorkshire, Hayden featured for the under-21s in a 2-1 victory over Halifax Town in the National League Cup.

The 29-year-old played an hour at The Shay Stadium before being replaced by Trevan Sanusi. Halifax ended the game with 10 men and surrendered a 1-0 lead as Johnny Emerson and Ben Parkinson cancelled out Andrew Oluwabori’s opener.

It was Hayden’s first appearance at any level for Newcastle since December 2021 when he featured in a 4-0 loss to Manchester City at St James’ Park. The midfielder has 171 outings to his name on Tyneside after joining from Arsenal in 2016 but has been out frozen out the first-team picture by Howe.

Ahead of the 2022-23 season, Hayden joined Norwich City on a season-long loan deal with obligation to buy, however the criteria wasn’t met amid an injury-hit spell and the Canaries’ failure to win immediate promotion back to the Premier League

A move to Standard Liege was next but Hayden returned to England in January this year, joining Queens Park Rangers after threatening to take legal action against the Belgian club over wages they allegedly owed him.

Hayden had been keen to re-join QPR in the summer but could only watch as Harrison Ashby went there on deadline day. Despite staying put, the midfielder - albeit unsurprisingly was left out of Newcastle’s 25-man Premier League squad for the 2024-25 campaign.

He is still under contract at St James’ Park until 2026 having penned an extension in September 2020.