Lewis Hall is the accidental left back who questioned himself last season - now the Newcastle star is shining under Eddie Howe and ready to make his mark for Thomas Tuchel's England
- Lewis Hall had a difficult campaign on loan at Newcastle last season
- He is now flourishing at the club and set for his England debut against Greece
- LISTEN NOW: It's All Kicking Off!, available wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday and Thursday
When Lewis Hall was either kept back after training for extra work with Newcastle’s coaches or taken away for analysis sessions, it caused the teenager to doubt himself.
‘Do they think I’m s***?’ he wondered in conversation with those close to him.
‘No, they think you could be brilliant,’ came the reply.
That was last season, when the likes of assistant boss Jason Tindall and coach Stephen Purches dedicated hour upon hour to a player who, at the end of the campaign, would cost the club an obligatory £28million as his loan move from Chelsea was made permanent.
It was starting to look like a bad deal, at least to outside observers. The fact he was hooked by Eddie Howe at half-time in three of his first four starts - and then had to wait five months for another - supported the concern. Even some within the hierarchy were miffed as to why Hall went seven straight matches as an unused substitute during the squad’s injury crisis last winter.
Lewis Hall struggled in his first season at Newcastle and wondered if the coaches thought he was 's***'
Now he is flying and has received his first England call-up after a strong start to the season
Eddie Howe has started to get the best out of Hall just over a year after bringing him to St James' Park
‘He should be playing in the Under-21s, he doesn’t look ready for men’s football,’ one former player told us.
But, on the inside, there was a feeling that those on the outside just needed to calm down. Howe and Tindall knew that, with time and work, they could justify the fee. One day, they insisted privately, it would look cheap.
Today, as the 20-year-old arrives here in Athens as an England player for the first time, it could well be supporters of Chelsea questioning the fee. The Blues will eventually cop an extra £7m in add-ons, but Hall satisfying that part of the deal will also be a point of regret - an England left back for £35m could yet look like a poor sale.
Not that Hall ever was a left back as he came through the youth ranks at Chelsea and England. Speak to those who watch junior football and they remember a tidy midfielder who was very good, but not among the top 10 of his age group. The switch to left back was as much by accident at Chelsea, even if at Newcastle it is very much by design. It was incoming England boss Thomas Tuchel who took a shine to the-then 17-year-old when he was in charge at Stamford Bridge.
One source says: ‘Tuchel got him involved with first-team training because he loved how he would adapt. If they needed someone to play left-sided centre-half or even right back, Lewis was like, “Yeah, I’ll have a go”.’
From there came his debut, as a left back, and a realisation from the player that his skillset could well be better suited to the position. There was one problem - he had to learn how to defend. That is why the chance to work with Howe and his coaches so appealed. They have mutual connections, and Hall had heard and seen what they had done with others in taking the team from 19th to fourth in just 19 months.
Even still, as one sporting director at a rival club said this week: ’Howe and his team can’t half develop talent, because Lewis Hall could not defend for toffee when he left Chelsea.’
It did not help that he arrived on Tyneside late in the summer of 2023 with hardly any pre-season minutes. ‘He was fit, but not Newcastle fit,’ says one insider. ‘It was like he started at minus one.’
New England manager Thomas Tuchel spotted Hall's potential at Chelsea, but the youngster was not seen as a left back at the time
Hall's defending has come on leaps and bounds and he managed to keep Bukayo Saka quiet recently, suggesting he could be the player to fix England's left back problems
Howe did not want to expose Hall too soon in a ‘sink or swim’ scenario. It is better to fit a player with armbands, especially one so young, rather than watch them drown. They used to joke at Bournemouth that, when Howe signed a player, they were unlikely to see him for six months. First, they must download the playbook, and that is before the head coach has programmed them to feature within it.
Hall knew this, but it still did not rid him of that doubt. He would return home to an empty house - his Newcastle-supporting family still live in the south - and there were days when it was dark, literally and metaphorically. Howe, a dad of three boys, felt a duty of a care to another so far from home, and every effort was made to reassure Hall of the path he was on.
Not once did he complain to the staff who were pushing him all the way, every day. He formed close friendships with Tino Livramento and Sean Longstaff and, this season, he sits next to Sandro Tonali in the dressing-room, a pair who prefer to let their feet do the talking.
Observers say they can see similarities in Howe and Hall. They describe the player as, ‘Quiet and considered, but a good bloke. You don’t have to worry about him. He’s solid. He’s got a bigger pair of b**** than you would realise. He’s strong minded. He’ll back himself’.
He has the Toon Army in his corner now, too. During his man-of-the-match showing in Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Arsenal earlier this month, his name began to emanate from the Gallowgate End - ‘Lewis, Lewis Hall, Lewis, Lewis Hall’, until it had spread around St James’ Park. It was a first, and it was also the first time Bukayo Saka had been pocketed this season. England were watching that day and, from then, Newcastle were anticipating his maiden call-up.
When it was confirmed last week, there were thank-you calls to Newcastle’s coaches from those close to Hall. They accepted the gratitude and moved the conversation on. This, for Hall, Newcastle and England, is only just the beginning.
