Ross Wilson set to make fresh Newcastle United appointments after agreeing winger transfer
Newcastle United transfers: The Magpies’ youth recruitment drive is stepping up following the confirmation of the signing of Johan Martinez.
Newcastle United are looking to further bolster its youth recruitment team with several key appointments.
The club has filled several scouting roles and is set to appoint a new academy scout for Scandinavia, amid a strong period for emerging talent from the likes of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The club is also holding interviews for an executive assistant academy recruitment director to appoint before the summer.
According to the club, the role entails providing ‘an effective project management, administration and communication support service to the Academy Recruitment Team, supporting the Academy Recruitment Director’.
Former Sunderland, Leeds United and Manchester City academy recruitment guru Paul Midgely is currently in charge of Newcastle’s youth recruitment but was previously strongly linked with a move to a vacant role Manchester United.
Youth recruitment is significant to Newcastle’s long-term strategy and has improved since the 2021 takeover of the club with several key roles, including the appointment of Midgely, filled and the scouting network expanded.
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Newcastle United’s youth recruitment
The hope is that young recruits can develop into first-team players in the future or sold on for a significant profit to satisfy financial rules. While Newcastle have brought in several of promising young signings at academy level, none of them has made a notable impact at first team level so far.
Leo Shahar and Alex Murphy have featured for the first team in the Champions League this season having been initially signed as academy players. Trevan Sanusi, who made his first-team debut in the FA Cup last season, is currently out on loan at Lorient in Ligue 1 but has not made a league appearance all season amid various fitness problems.
18-year-old forward Vhaktang Salia joined Newcastle from Dinamo Tbilisi at the start of the season but has had his debut campaign with the Under-21s blighted by injuries. Park Seung-soo impressed for the first team in pre-season and made the bench for the season opener at Aston Villa but has struggled for consistency at Under-21s level despite some promising performances.
16-year-old Sam Alabi has also been drafted into the first team squad this season but has not got on the pitch.
As it happens, Newcastle’s biggest success stories at academy level in recent seasons have come internally rather than from players brought in as youngsters. Elliot Anderson was sold for a club-record fee to Nottingham Forest at the time and is now a full England international while Lewis Miley has established himself as a key player in Eddie Howe’s side. Sean Neave has also been a regular squad member and is viewed as a top academy talent.
NUFC complete young signing
Newcastle have recently announced the signing of 16-year-old Johan Martinez from Independiente del Valle in Ecuador. The young winger will join Newcastle officially once he turns 18 in July 2027.
It comes after Newcastle sporting director Ross Wilson expanded Newcastle’s scouting network in South America with the appointment of Thomas Federspiel in December as the club’s new global talent scout in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.
It was also the first official signing to be announced since Wilson’s arrival as sporting director last year.
“We’re delighted to beat off serious competition from leading clubs across Europe to bring Johan to Newcastle United,” Wilson said.
“Identifying and recruiting promising young players is a key part of how we build for the future, and our scouting and recruitment teams have worked diligently to secure Johan’s signature.
“Independiente del Valle have a strong reputation for developing young players and Johan has undoubtedly benefited from that environment. He will continue his progress there while we maintain a close connection with his development, and we look forward to welcoming him to Newcastle next year.”
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