Newcastle United £28m transfer bombshell as Chelsea deal in doubt after summer agreement

Eddie Howe has cast doubt over Lewis Hall's future at Newcastle United following his loan move from Chelsea in the summer.

Newcastle have an obligation to buy Hall from The Blues for £28million based on performance-related criteria. But Howe could not confirm if those criteria had been met with Hall making just six appearances and playing 234 minutes of football for The Magpies so far in all competitions, scoring once.

The 19-year-old has been substituted at half-time in three of his four starts for United and has been used sparingly despite the club experiencing an injury crisis. In the absence of Dan Burn and Matt Targett, Tino Livramento has been playing out of position at left-back despite Hall's availability.

And when asked if Hall had met the performance-related criteria required to trigger Newcastle's obligation to buy, Howe told The Gazette: "You're probably asking the wrong man, I'm not 100% sure."

When pressed on whether he expects Hall to sign for Newcastle permanently, Howe initially did not respond with the club's media manager stating during the press conference: "We'll come back to you on that."

Newcastle have since claimed that the expectation is still for Hall to sign permanently in the summer, but Howe said the decision would be out of his hands.

"It’s not mine," added The Magpies' boss. "For me, he’s here now, he’s a Newcastle player. But I think there are certain criteria he has to meet.

"Lewis is a really talented player. He has huge technical qualities. He is creative and has very good final delivery. He’s a really good attacking full-back. He’s got certain things to learn defensively, which we’re working on with him.

"But he’s a young age and also recently converted to a left-back. There needs to be a little bit of understanding that he may take a little bit of time to get the defensive solidity that we’re looking for, but he’s a player of such high promise."

In the absence of the suspended Kieran Trippier, Hall may be given an opportunity to start at left-back against Fulham at St James' Park on Saturday (3pm kick-off) with Livramento moving into the right-back position. But the return of Dan Burn is likely to see the teenager remain on the bench.