Romano provides important update on Lewis Hall's potential Chelsea return

Cameron Smith

• 17 Dec 2023 12:46 CST
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Newcastle United may activate the option to buy clause included in Lewis Hall’s loan deal, despite Eddie Howe’s recent comments.

Hall, 19, is currently on loan at St James’ Park from Chelsea after he was deemed surplus to requirements in west London following Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival as head coach.

An option to buy clause was included in the move, with Hall’s stay at Newcastle set to become permanent if the relevant criteria is met during the one-year loan move.

It’s believed that Hall’s move will be made permanent if he plays a certain number of games, but he has struggled for minutes this campaign, despite Newcastle’s injury crisis.

In total, the on-loan Chelsea star has mustered just 240 minutes in all competitions in 2023-24, with only 76 coming in the Premier League.

Furthermore, Howe recently admitted: “You’re probably asking the wrong man, I’m not 100 percent sure [if he will join permanently]. It’s not mine [decision to make]. For me, he’s here now, he’s a Newcastle player. But I think there’s certain criteria he has to meet.”

As a result, he has been linked with a return to Chelsea next summer, something that has pleased Blues fans, many of whom were confused why Hall was allowed to leave in the first place.

Transfer expert Romano has added the latest information, confirming that it’s still possible that Hall joins Newcastle on a permanent deal next summer.

What has Romano said?

Romano has revealed to CaughtOffside: “I can say that Newcastle don’t want to share this precise criteria in public but sources guarantee it’s not super difficult to reach it. Let’s see in the next months what happens with Hall as the picture will become clearer with time.

“In my opinion, I don’t think Howe wanted to speak about this topic in a negative way; he just said the truth.”