Manchester United are reported to be monitoring Newcastle United left back Lewis Hall as a potential long-term successor to Luke Shaw. The interest comes ahead of a summer window expected to bring significant change, with central midfield and left wing already identified as areas of concern and left back adding to the list of priorities.<\/p>\n
Shaw, historically prone to injury, has featured in every Premier League match this season, an appearance record that sits oddly against his medical history and has been facilitated by United\u2019s lightest match calendar in 111 years. That fixture load should increase should European qualification materialise next term, generating funds to address the added workload and squad needs.<\/p>\n
Hall arrived at Newcastle from Chelsea in 2024 as a teenager for a fee that could rise to as high as $46.8 million (\u00a335 million). At that stage he had accumulated less than 1,000 minutes for Chelsea\u2019s senior side. Eddie Howe later described the move as \u201ca smart piece of business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howe added praise this month: \u201cHe had a tough first year, he had to really show mental strength and patience, and he has reaped the benefits from grabbing his chance in the team,\u201d Howe gushed earlier this month. \u201cHe is currently playing his best football. He has a lot of strengths that a lot of players in his position won\u2019t have and that is why he stands out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those strengths show in both attack and defence. Hall has two assists across all competitions despite creating 40 chances for team-mates. In a system that uses an inverted left winger, similar to the approach Michael Carrick has introduced at Manchester United, Hall provides the sole width on that flank, using a low centre of gravity to weave through challenges and deliver into the box. He also wins possession back frequently, a part of his game sharpened by individual work with assistant coach Jason Tindall. The nickname \u201cThe Slough Maldini\u201d has not stuck.<\/p>\n
Since being restored to left back in a four-man rearguard by Carrick, Shaw has created a total of two chances in 10 appearances. United are expected to let Tyrell Malacia leave when his contract expires in the summer, which would open another place in the squad. Newcastle are rarely sellers \u2014 Liverpool discovered that during last summer\u2019s Alexander Isak saga \u2014 and United\u2019s links to Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimar\u00e3es mean reports of Hall interest are unlikely to be welcomed. Howe branded some transfer talk as \u201cnonsense\u201d and \u201cdisrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only two English left backs in the history of the sport have cost more than Hall: Ben Chilwell and Luke Shaw. Any move from St. James\u2019 Park would be complex, and whether Hall would be open to the move remains unclear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Man Utd plot to replace long-serving left back, eyeing Lewis Hall as a long-term successor in summer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,194,1163],"tags":[1484,1544],"class_list":["post-9682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd-transfer-news","category-newcastle-united","category-transfers","tag-appearance-record","tag-lewis-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}