OPINION
For a club the size Newcastle United, top local talents should always be on their radar. If you’re a boy from the North East, the Magpies are undoubtedly at the top of tree.
It’s no surprise, then, that Rafael Benitez’s side are reported to be interested in Hartlepool starlet Josh Hawkes. However, their pursuit of the midfielder took a hit last week.
The Hartlepool Mail reported that Pools are set to trigger the one year extension option in the player’s contract, keeping him out of the clutches of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough who are all interested. They would also like to extend his contract beyond the end of next season, but it remains to be seen if they will be successful in that endeavour.
This is frustrating news for Newcastle, then, who had been hoping to get the 20-year-old in for nothing. He would have been a smart addition, too, a low-risk high-reward player who could, with time, become a first team regular for the Magpies.
Obviously he’s never played football anything like the standard that he would be in the Premier League, but he has shown this season that he is far too good for the National League at an incredibly young age.
He’s been in tremendous form for his club this season, bagging eight goals in 25 games from midfield, a decent total which suggests he has the ability to flourish higher up the football league pyramid.
However, he now looks set to remain where he is for another season at least. That means that Newcastle must regroup and decide whether they are interested enough in Hawkes to submit an official bid for him. We’ll have to wait and see what happens with this one.
