Newcastle United sign 17-year-old Irish winger who is set to join club later this month

Newcastle United have already made their first signing of the January transfer window with the deal set to be concluded later this month.

Last January, the only incoming signing Newcastle made was bringing in youngster Alfie Harrison from Manchester City, so in terms of numbers, we're already level with the business we did last year.

The Magpies have pounced to sign Galway United winger Kyle Fitzgerald who the club believe has what it takes to be a future star.

Newcastle's scouts have an eye for young talent having already brought in several young players to develop. The standout being Yankuba Minteh who was sold after one season for a tidy profit having never even pulled on a Newcastle shirt.

Getty Images

Kyle Fitzgerald will join Newcastle on his 18th birthday later this month

Obviously, Newcastle will be hoping they can avoid having to do that type of quick turnaround again, and would be keen to hang on to these young stars to see what they can do in the future.

Kyle Fitzgerald will join Newcastle on the 28th of January when he turns 18 and will go into the Under-21 set-up to develop with The Chronicle saying he will have a clear pathway to the first-team.

This move is in line with what Steve Harper said last year about bringing in younger players for the Under-21s.

Steve Harper said Newcastle U21s will have a youthful look

"Look, I could clog up the U18s and U21s with 21-year-old players and compete at the top of Premier League 2 but that’s running it for me and making it results-driven.

"Instead what will be done here, what will be our mantra from now on, is to give opportunities younger. You will notice our U21s team will be 16, 17 and 18-year-olds. It will be accelerated learning and they’ll be stretched. There will be some tough experiences along the way, but that is where resilience comes from."

Newcastle are enjoying more success with younger players breaking into the first team with Lewis Miley carving a path. Trevan Sanusi impressed in pre-season and we expect to see him closer to the first team next season too.

We are heading in the right direction, that's for sure.