Newcastle United ‘reach agreement’ over former Leeds United and Sunderland man

Newcastle United have reached an agreement with Manchester City to recruit a key member of staff. Paul Midgley, a regional scout at the Premier League champions, is joining the Magpies as head of youth recruitment.

Midgley, born in Teesside, enjoyed coaching roles at Stockton Town, England Schools at 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.”