How Lewis Hall Went from Newcastle’s Fourth-Choice Left Back to Playing for England
Lewis Hall has had to bide his time for opportunities, but in stepping off the bench to make his England debut away to Greece on Thursday, he showed a level of poise that has seemingly made the patience all worth it.
A player of tremendous promise, Newcastle invested in his development to the tune of £35 million, bringing him in on an obligatory loan from Chelsea last summer. It’s only now, however, four months into his second season at his boyhood club, that he is being trusted with regular minutes.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has been tough with Hall and infamously hooked the young left-back at half-time in three out of his first four starts for the Magpies. Having only just turned 20, Hall was still a teenager when he arrived on Tyneside in 2023, and Howe’s tough love led to a crisis of confidence.
The step up to senior football was not as seamless as Hall would have hoped, but Howe had his reasons. You wouldn’t have guessed it by the way he sauntered through his first 45 minutes in an England shirt, but Hall only became a left-back after incoming Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel played him there as a 17-year-old at Chelsea.
Nominally a midfielder in his academy days, Tuchel felt Hall’s attributes were best suited to left-back, and the youngster sensed this was his opportunity to make an impression on the first team. As a left-back, Hall looked composed in limited minutes for Chelsea.
Howe would see the vision that both Tuchel and later Graham Potter had tried to imprint and trusted his ability to mould Hall into the player he wanted. Last season was spent on the training ground drilling the defensive principles Hall’s game desperately lacked, and whilst from the outside it looked as though Hall, even amid an injury crisis, wasn’t in favour, there was always confidence in the young full-back behind the scenes.
This quiet optimism has paid dividends this season, and Hall now looks ready to cement his place as a mainstay for club and country. Hall has started Newcastle’s last six league games, playing all but one of the 540 minutes available to him in that time, with the Magpies enjoying something of a resurgence after morale-boosting wins against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
Hall’s diligence and hard work have kept him in the picture at Newcastle, who have climbed to eighth in the table — level on 18 points with Aston Villa and Fulham and one point behind Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Chelsea. What’s more, with Luke Shaw continuing to struggle for fitness, Hall’s maiden England call-up looks unlikely to be his last.
Tuchel, the manager who plucked Hall out of Chelsea’s academy at 17, will take charge of his first England camp in March 2025. So, if Hall can maintain the consistency he’s shown in the last few months, he’ll surely be one of the first names on the German’s eagerly anticipated squad list.
By: Sam Tabuteau / @TabuteauS
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Martin Rickett – PA Images