'He's looked really good': Eddie Howe has been impressed with 18-year-old in training

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe spoke to the media this morning ahead of tomorrow's 3pm kick-off against Brighton and Hove Albion.

While much of the press conference focused more on the England job than the actual upcoming Newcastle match, there were moments where Eddie Howe got to speak about the job he actually has.

One of those times was when he was asked about the return to training of 18-year-old Lewis Miley who has been missing since the end of last season after a back issue and a broken foot.

Miley was pictured back in training in midweek and looking fitter than ever, however, the academy graduate will not feature as part of Howe's squad tomorrow as the club is taking a more cautious approach to bringing players back from injury.

Eddie Howe says it's like Miley was never away from training

There's a lot more competition for places in the midfield this season so it's not as urgent to bring Miley back into contention in terms of player availability, although we're sure we're all keen to see the kid back in action.

Howe has said that Miley has come back to training as if he'd never been away and is raring to go.

"He has been back training during the break. He has looked really good, looks like he has not been away. It has been great to see. We will re-introduce him at the right time, he will have some competition, he is coming back into a great environment."

We expect Miley to return in the Carabao Cup game against Chelsea

Craig Hope speculated that Miley could be reintroduced to the side in one of the upcoming games against Chelsea. Newcastle face the Blues at St James' Park next Sunday and then again in midweek in the Carabao Cup at Stamford Bridge.

We expect that if Miley is going to appear in either of those fixtures it's more likely to be the cup game, but we'll have to wait and see.

It's going to be interesting to see how much the competition for places will raise his game as he didn't really have that last season and he was magnificent.