Lewis Hall’s first England call-up is “a great achievement for someone so young” but there is still “a lot more to come” from the Newcastle United left-back, insists Eddie Howe.
The 20-year-old has represented his nation from under-15s through to the under-21s, and has been brought into the senior set-up for the first time by Lee Carsley, the interim England manager, for the fixtures against Greece and the Republic of Ireland later this month.
In 2023-24, Hall made just eight top-flight starts during a season-long loan from Chelsea and played only 781 Premier League minutes as he continued to transition into a senior left-back, having been a midfielder for much of his youth career.
But he has made seven top-flight starts already in 2024-25 and has been arguably Newcastle’s player of the season so far, including impressing against Bukayo Saka during the 1-0 victory over Arsenal last weekend.
“I’m delighted for Lewis,” Howe said at Newcastle’s pre-Nottingham Forest press conference. “He’s had a really good start to the season, very consistent, really mature displays.
“There is still a lot more to come from him. We’re seeing him and evolve week in, week out at the moment. A great achievement for someone so young.”
Hall’s loan contained a £28million ($36.3m at present exchange rates) obligation to buy and questions were raised about that investment given his slow start to his Newcastle career. However, that business is starting to appear increasingly astute on the evidence of his form so far this season.
“We signed a very talented player, there was no doubt about that, he just had a few things to work on, as we all do,” Howe said. “The most impressive thing about Lewis last year was he was committed to that.
“The work nobody sees behind the scenes, the double sessions, staying behind — credit to him for staying in the present and day in, day out, produce good training performances, he is now reaping the rewards of that.
“We tell new players when they come to the club they sometimes have to go through a process to get to the end point. He committed to that and the coaches deserve a lot of credit. His family are really behind him and have been really supportive of him.”
Tino Livramento, meanwhile, has been left out of the latest England squad, having been selected by Carsley in each of the past two.
The 21-year-old has featured in all 10 of Newcastle’s Premier League fixture this season, starting seven of them, and is trying to establish himself as first-choice right-back ahead of Kieran Trippier, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury.
“I’m very pleased with his recent performances, he has shown his strengths. His attacking, his dribbling with the ball in wide and central areas have been really good,” Howe added.
“There’s still more to come from Tino with chance creation and assists. But defending, how well he has nullified certain players’ strength, his one-v-one actions defensively, he has done very well and there is still so much room for him to improve.”
(Matt McNulty/Getty Images)
