Chelsea facing transfer headache as Eddie Howe casts doubt over £35million deal despite obligation to buy
LEWIS HALL may be heading back to Chelsea after Eddie Howe could not confirm if the left-back will be a Newcastle player next season.
Hall, 19, moved to Tyneside from Stamford Bridge on loan in August with the Magpies expected to make the deal permanent at the end of the campaign for around £35million.
GettyLewis Hall could return to Chelsea next summer[/caption]
But the youngster must hit certain performance-related criteria to activate the permanent switch, with Howe casting doubt on whether Toon want him beyond this season.
Hall has only played 234 minutes this campaign, struggling for action despite Newcastle’s injury crisis.
And with Dan Burn returning from injury and Tino Livramento excelling over the recent weeks, it is hard to see Hall featuring much over the coming weeks.
In further blows to the Mags, winger Harvey Barnes and midfielder Joe Willock have suffered setbacks from their recovery from injury.
The pair won’t feature until 2024 having initially been on course to play again before Christmas.
Newcastle host Fulham tomorrow on the back of three straight defeats.
They were dumped out of Europe by AC Milan on Wednesday and, sat seven points off the top four, desperately need to get their campaign back on track.
Howe said: “It’s going to be a big test of our ability to respond, our resilience.
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“There’ll be a narrative that will be negative and we have to override that.
“It can become more negative if you don’t react in the right way.
“We can’t deny exiting Europe is a disappointment but we can control how we respond to it.
“The mood is good, there is some pain and anguish, but that can’t stay around in professional football.”
AFPTino Livramento has shone at St James’ Park[/caption]
