Newcastle United set to seal deadline day signing as West Ham & Celtic target completes medical

Newcastle United are set to announce the signing of Manchester City midfielder Alfie Harrison on deadline day.

The Magpies agreed an undisclosed fee for the 18-year-old last week and he has since been on Tyneside to undergo a medical and complete the remaining formalities. It's understood Harrison has penned a long-term contract after being provided with a clear path towards the first-team.

Newcastle are yet to officially announce Harrison's arrival but confirmation should arrive before the end of the day. The January transfer window slams shut at 11pm tonight.

Harrison, who joined Man City's academy aged nine, has scored eight times in eight Premier League under-18s games and made his under-21s debut in December.

He's also trained with Pep Guardiola's first team. It's claimed Harrison has drawn comparisons to Erling Haaland for "their visual resemblance and has recorded an impressive goal and assist statistics for their age-group teams".

It's claimed by HITC that Harrison had attracted interest from West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Brighton & Hove Albion, Celtic, Valencia, Borussia Dortmund and Nice before opting to move to St James' Park.

Newcastle head of youth recruitment Paul Midgley, who joined from Man City in 2022, is understood to have played a key role in the move with talks centred around Harrison having a clear path towards first-team action.

Indeed, Eddie Howe has showed a willingness to hand young players first-team opportunities, the prime example being 17-year-old Lewis Miley, who has made 18 appearances this season. Meanwhile the likes of Alex Murphy, Ben Parkinson, Michael Ndiweni and Amadou Diallo have appeared on the bench.

The academy has been a real focus for Newcastle's owners since taking over the club in October 2021.

In the summer, under-18s trio Trevan Sanisu, Travis Hernes and Leo Shahar arrived from Birmingham City, Shrewsbury Town and Wolverhampton Wanderers, respectively. Meanwhile, Michael Mills of League One side Port Vale, Oldham Athletic prospect Sam Alabi and Kacey Wooster of Southend United joined the Magpies’ academy ranks at under-15s and under-16s level.

Asked about Harrison last week, United boss Howe said: "We welcome him into the football club. I wasn't directly involved in that transfer but certainly, he's a highly talented player and we hope he does really well with us."