Newcastle United star left out of squad v Liverpool - ‘some way short of being match-fit’

Lewis Hall was left out of Newcastle United’s squad for the defeat against Liverpool on Sunday due to being short of match fitness.

The 18-year-old completed his season-long loan move, which will become permanent next summer, from Chelsea on Tuesday and trained with his new teammates last week.

However, having missed out on pre-season with the Magpies and played a limited amount of time for the Blues, Howe will wait before calling on the left-back.

Howe said: “He’s trained with us but he’s not played a game during pre-season so he’s only trained. He’s some way short of being match-fit.”

Speaking about Hall on Friday, Howe says the England under-21s defender ‘caught his eye immediately’ during his Premier League debut at St James’ Park last season.

Hall, a boyhood Newcastle fan, played 12 times for Chelsea last term - starting both fixtures against Howe’s men.

“He played against us a couple of times last year and he impressed me for someone so young to come into those situations and perform the way he did,” Howe said. “Preparing for those games, we watched a lot of Chelsea and I think he had just broken in before our first game. He caught my eye immediately.

“I really liked his attitude, how he played the game, his physical and technical attributes, so I think he’s going to be a really good signing for us.”

Howe hinted then that Hall would need time to settle in.

“Short term aim is to develop to us, and what I mean by that is mold his game around what we want him to do and that’ll take a period of time,” he said.

“Ideally with your signings, you try and get them in as early as you can during pre-season and I think we’ve seen the benefits of that with someone like Sandro Tonali, who’s come in and adjusted to our way quite quickly.

“Although there is a lot more to come that period has been very beneficial. Lewis will have to go through a similar period where he totally understands what we need him to do.