Chelsea set £35m asking price as Newcastle United push for Lewis Hall transfer — reports

Last week, it looked like 18-year-old Lewis Hall, one of the most promising prospects coming out of the Academy at the moment, would be joining Crystal Palace on loan. At the same time Newcastle United were exploring a potential move for Marc Cucurella. Both of those deals sounded like ideal-world solutions for us. Alas, as expected, we don’t live in an ideal world.

Not only are Newcastle not all that interested in Cucurella, they are in fact more interested in Hall. And to make matter worse, they’re interested in a transfer rather than a loan. And to make matters even worse from there, the youngster himself is said to be “favouring” a permanent exit, especially if the Magpies, whom he apparently supported growing up, were to offer him the prospect of “regular football” — which doesn’t seem to be on the cards for him at Chelsea this year.

Meanwhile, Palace have gotten all huffy and puffy about our wooing of Michael Olise, and evidently that has soured them on the Hall deal as well.

The Athletic claim that we would be seeking a fee “in the region of £35m” with a “meaningful sell-on clause” as well, though I’m not sure that would readily make up for losing Hall for good. (Incidentally, if you’re into financial spreadsheets, a meaningful sell-on clause did come into play recently, when Newcastle acquired Tino Livramento from Southampton, netting us about £15m.)