Lewis Hall expected to be given more minutes after impressing Eddie Howe - journalist

The signing of Lewis Hall has had a lot of Newcastle United fans confused this season as the hot prospect as hardly been used by Eddie Howe.

When it became clear that Newcastle were signing Lewis Hall from Chelsea the Newcastle fan base was buzzing with excitement. The youngster had shown flashes of brilliance in his cameos for Chelsea and their supporters were expecting big things from the left-back.

In fact, Chelsea fans were fuming when Hall signed for the Magpies. The deal saw the 19-year-old arrive at the club he supported growing up on an initial season-long loan which contained an obligation to buy for £28million at the end of the season based on certain criteria being met.

It was only recently that said criteria came to light with it being reported that the obligation becomes active should Newcastle finish higher than 15th in the Premier League - a wise move on Newcastle's part as it means the obligation won't kick in until near the end of the season whereas an appearance-based obligation could have been triggered much earlier.

Lewis Hall had failed to impress Eddie Howe for much of the season

Despite the hype, Hall has been given very few opportunities to show what he can do in the first-team this season leaving fans scratching their heads as to what could be the issue.

It's rumoured that Howe feels that Hall still has a lot of work to do on the defensive part of his game and as such doesn't yet trust the youngster enough to put him in the first team.

That's something that is backed up by journalist Joel Bland's latest post on X which suggested that Hall is earning that trust now and Eddie Howe could be about to reward him with a bigger role in the team.

We could finally be about to see more of Lewis Hall

When Hall has started for Newcastle he was hooked early as Howe moved to change things up which must have been a huge dent in the lad's confidence, but it's now believed that Howe was impressed with Hall's contribution against Manchester City.

"Eddie Howe has expressed to coaches this week that he was impressed with Lewis Hall's display against Man City and believes the 19-year-old has improved his defensive understanding.

"In contention for increased minutes over the remaining period of the season."

There have been rumours all season that Hall was a Dan Ashworth signing and Eddie Howe didn't want him, but Howe has repeatedly said that Hall was signed for the future and is part of his long-term plan. Hopefully now though, we'll get to see more of what we're about to spend £28million on.