Newcastle United double signing confirmed with behind the scenes St James’ Park images

Winger Michael Mills has joined Newcastle from Port Vale after a six-figure fee was agreed between the two clubs. The 14-year-old will be part of The Young Magpies’ Under-15s and Under-16s squads for the 2023-24 season.

The youngster joins after impressing during a trial period at the club.

An image showing Mills holding up a Newcastle United home shirt with ‘Mills 11’ on the back shared on social media via ‘The Secret Scout’. The account also recently posted an image showing that The Magpies have signed Sam Alabi from National League side Oldham Athletic.

Alabi is a left-footed box-to-box midfielder who will also join up with the same age groups as Mills for the upcoming season. He was pictured with a Newcastle shirt with ‘Alabi 8’ on the back.

The club have also recently signed striker Kacey Wooster from Southend United.

Since Dan Ashworth’s appointment as sporting director at Newcastle last summer, the club has made a significant investment into the academy infrastructure. The Magpies handed a debut to 17-year-old midfielder Lewis Miley at Chelsea last season with the teenager becoming the club’s youngest ever Premier League player in the process.

In addition, Under-21s players Dylan Stephenson, Jay Turner-Cooke, Joe White, Alex Murphy, Lucas De Bolle, Ben Parkinson, Michael Ndiweni, Charlie Wiggett, Remi Savage and Jamie Miley have also featured for the first-team in friendly matches over the past 12 months.

Newcastle have made several appointments behind the scenes at the academy with new scouting, coaching and analyst positions filled. The club has also entered into a ‘strategic relationship’ with Northern Ireland league champions Larne with the potential for young players to move between clubs in either direction to aid their development.