Newcastle United to complete double Serie A swoop as exciting transfer policy laid bare

Following the confirmation that the club had signed Republic of Ireland youth international Cathal Heffernan from AC Milan last week, the Magpies are set to add another youngster from the Serie A to their ranks. Kevin Zefi, who moved to the San Siro from Shamrock Rovers, is set to be the latest player to join an exciting and ever improving youth setup at the club.

After a good season last year saw Zefi register 16 goals for Inter’s Under-19’s, the 18-year-old reportedly hasn’t trained with his club this summer amid rumours of a move to Tyneside. Confirmation of Zefi’s imminent move to Tyneside will be just another example of how Newcastle have transformed their transfer policy over the last few years as the club look to secure talent for the future.

One of the final acts of Mike Ashley’s reign as Newcastle United owner saw talented midfielder Bobby Clark leave the club in favour of a switch to Liverpool. It was a final act of 15 years of neglect of an academy set up that failed to produce any real talent for the first-team, save for Andy Carroll’s brief time at the club and Paul Dummett as the club’s longest standing active player.

Now though, that has all changed. Under sporting director Dan Ashworth, the club have a clear vision of what they want to be in the future and have included the Under-21’s and academy set-up in that vision - rather than being solely first-team centric.

This new approach started last summer with the arrivals of Jude Smith, Charlie McArthur, Jordan Hackett and Alex Murphy and has really kicked into gear in recent times with Heffernan and Zefi joining the likes of Garang Kuol and Yankuba Minteh as coveted arrivals from abroad. News of a partnership between United’s academy and Northern Ireland outfit Larne FC goes to further underline this new approach.

The signings of Tino Livramento, Sandro Tonali and expected arrival of Lewis Hall, all of whom are 23 or younger, have given the first-team a new youthful edge with a clear pathway between academy football and the first-team becoming established. It’s only a matter of time before this new philosophy completely transforms the club.