Lewis Hall Newcastle United snub explained as Eddie Howe points to deal that has already made Chelsea £17.5m

Lewis Hall's lack of involvement for Newcastle United amid an injury crisis has been a talking point.

The 19-year-old left-back has been fit and available for all of The Magpies' recent matches with the exception of the 4-1 win over Chelsea in which he was ineligible to feature against his parent club. Since joining Newcastle on loan from Chelsea in the summer, Hall has made six appearances for the club in all competitions.

Three of those appearances have been starts in which he has been withdrawn at half-time and two have been late substitute appearances, most recently in the 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. The one occasion Hall has played more than 45 minutes for The Magpies in a match was when he scored in the 3-0 Carabao Cup win at Manchester United last month before being withdrawn in the 74th minute.

Newcastle have an obligation to buy the teenager at the end of the season for £28million. But at the moment, he is struggling to get into a side which has had as little as 13 senior outfield players available at points due to injury.

Hall has started just one Premier League match this season, a 2-0 defeat at AFC Bournemouth which saw him withdrawn at half-time. Afterwards, Howe said the left-back 'won't play 90 minutes' for his side as he works up his fitness.

And when asked to explain Hall's lack of minutes for The Magpies, Howe explained: “I think Tino has been excellent at left-back and Kieran has his obvious qualities at right-back so that would be the reason and Lewis, when he comes on, has to perform well.” 

Tino Livramento, another former Chelsea youth player, joined Newcastle from Southampton in the summer for £31million in a deal that made Chelsea around £17.5million in sell-on fees. Although initially viewed as right-back cover for Kieran Trippier, the 21-year-old has slotted into the side well at left-back with Howe naming an unchanged outfield for each of Newcastle's last five matches.

Livramento is likely to keep his place in the side for the Champions League clash against AC Milan on Wednesday evening.

"I want to make changes that benefit the team," the Newcastle boss added. "Everyone that I picked [at Spurs] wanted to play and felt able to play, no issues.

"Of course I understand the backlog of fatigue that can build. But we don't have an abundance of options so I don't know. Of course we have a couple of senior professionals but it's difficult to make changes to a team that has performed so well - we beat Arsenal, we beat Chelsea, we beat Manchester United and that was only two games ago."