Newcastle United make midfielder transfer decision as 21-year-old joins squad amid Bruno Guimaraes concern

Newcastle United have decided to bring Joe White into the first-team set-up following his loan spell at Crewe Alexandra.

The 21-year-old's half-season loan at Crewe ended with a 2-1 win over Swindon Town in League Two on Saturday afternoon. Although Crewe are keen to extend White's stay until the end of the season, Newcastle's current injury situation leaves them short of options in midfield.

Joelinton has been ruled out for six weeks while there are no clear return dates for the likes of Elliot Anderson and Joe Willock while Sandro Tonali has been ruled out for the rest of the campaign due to a betting ban. It leaves Bruno Guimaraes, Sean Longstaff and 17-year-old Lewis Miley as the only available recognised central-midfielders in Eddie Howe's squad.

Reflecting on White's return, Howe said: "It is [an opportunity for him]. We've decided to bring Joe back and we'll see where he's at in terms of his development.

"He's done very well, especially latterly in his loan so I'm really pleased with Joe. He's a really highly-talented player who had certain things to work on in his loan and he's gone away and he's played regularly and started to contribute goals and assists.

"We'll bring him back and see where his game is at and then make a decision based on that with what we do with him."

White made 25 appearances for Crewe during his loan spell, scoring three goals and registering three assists. And Alex boss Lee Bell remains optimistic of striking a deal to bring the youngster back on loan for the remainder of the season.

"We’ve had a lot of talk [with Newcastle] this week and we feel we have hit somewhere that we can be confident enough that Joe will come back to us on loan," he said last week.

“Newcastle have their injury problems so Eddie Howe wants to have a look at him.

“That’s brilliant for Joe and I’ve told him he should be proud of that. He has been brilliant for us up to now, so let’s hope that can continue.”

White is yet to make his competitive debut for Newcastle but may get a chance given Howe's lack of options and the fact Bruno Guimaraes is just one yellow card away from a two-match ban, which would leave just Longstaff and Miley as the two midfield options. White also won't take up a place in Newcastle's 25-man Premier League squad due to his age.