Newcastle United boss Matthias Jaissle is excited at the prospect of working with Lewis Hall, claiming he is “in love” with the left-back amid reports he has agreed to a new contract with the club.
Hall was the subject of speculation linking him with a move to Manchester United this summer, as several other key members of the Magpies squad left for pastures new.
But the England international, a surprise omission from the World Cup squad, stayed at St James’ Park, and has reportedly agreed a new deal to remain with Newcastle until 2031.
That is unlikely to stop future gossip about a potential move, but Jaissle is relishing the opportunity to further Hall’s development after an impressive start to the new campaign from the 22-year-old.
“Without speaking about his contract, I can just say that I’m in love with what I’ve seen so far from him,” Jaissle told a press conference ahead of Monday’s Premier League clash with Leeds United at Elland Road.
“It’s an amazing player with huge potential still, and this makes me so happy to, hopefully, have him here for the next years in the long term.
“He’s fitting so good to to this identity, how we want to play football, and again, he’s doing an excellent job.”
Newcastle boss: Fernandez-Pardo ‘getting closer’ to first start
Newcastle’s final signing of a busy summer transfer window saw them bring in Belgium forward Matias Fernandez-Pardo from Lille in a £51million deal.
The 21-year-old has since made two substitute appearances for the Magpies, and it was he and Hall who combined to tee up Joe Willock for the only goal in Newcastle’s 1-0 EFL Cup win over Millwall on Tuesday.
Asked if Fernandez-Pardo is ready to start against Leeds, Jaissle replied: “He’s getting closer. I said that we need to be smart with his load management.
“Now he’s getting more and more minutes. He has now almost a full training week to Leeds, that helps him a lot. I think it’s the first time now since he arrived, and then we can make the decision on Sunday, maybe even on Monday.”
Newcastle are unbeaten in five games in all competitions under Jaissle, defying expectations following the loss of Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes in the summer and the departure of former manager Eddie Howe at the end of July.
“We are happy with the start we’ve had definitely,” Jaissle added.
“It’s not normal after such a short amount of time together, but the Premier League is the Premier League. Every matchday it’s top opponents. Again, against Leeds it will be a tough away match. We want to continue that journey. We are ambitious but we are realistic.”
Jaissle revealed that a hamstring injury to right-back Amar Dedic “does not look too serious”. Tino Livramento will likely start at that spot if the Bosnia-Herzegovina international is unavailable.
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