Newcastle United are making plans for the future, with Dan Ashworth pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Ashworth has already had a huge impact since he became Newcastle‘s Sporting Director, particularly at youth level.
The club have brought in a lot of teenagers who they believe can develop into first-team stars. We saw that this summer with Cathal Heffernan arriving, while Newcastle also invested heavily in Yankuba Minteh. He is enjoying a brilliant loan spell at Feyenoord, and made his Champions League debut on Tuesday night.
Newcastle were also very busy last summer, and one of Ashworth’s signings actually featured in the Magpies’ UEFA Youth League defeat to AC Milan on Tuesday afternoon.
Newcastle have high hopes for Charlie McArthur
18-year-old Charlie McArthur was named in Ben Dawson’s starting lineup for the Newcastle Under-19s game in Milan.
It was a humbling experience for the young Magpies, losing 4-0 to their Italian opponents.
But while McArthur, who played at centre-back alongside the aforementioned Heffernan, was powerless against AC Milan’s exciting young forwards, he is a player who Newcastle have a lot of belief in.
According to the Chronicle, Newcastle think that McArthur is capable of playing in Eddie Howe’s first-team in the coming years.
They add that Ashworth played a ‘huge role’ in bringing the Scottish defender to Tyneside from Kilmarnock. He clearly rates the teenager very highly, and now the club have belief that he can eventually make it at Premier League level.
That will have been the hope when he arrived, with Ashworth looking to sign young players who can rise through the ranks and have an impact at first-team level. It is a strategy that will save the club millions of pounds in the transfer market in the future.
Hopefully McArthur does end up saving Newcastle millions, and we end up seeing him play for Eddie Howe’s senior side in the coming years.