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Ashley surely seeing £ signs over Hayden

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Image for Ashley surely seeing £ signs over Hayden

OPINION

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley will be seeing pound signs if Darren Bent ends up being right to suggest that Isaac Hayden could soon be considered for an England call-up.

The Sky Sports pundit shared that he thought the Magpies 24-year-old must be a contender to play as a holding midfielder for England if he gets another good season under his belt at St James Park.

“He’s English, he’s 24, if you look at the area for English players, we’re really crying out for someone in that midfield role for England,” said Bent in an interview with Football Insider.

“You’d think that he has to be in the discussion. His name could be mentioned. You think that he has another good season at Newcastle, he must be in the conversation.”

Given that Telegraph journalist Luke Edwards previously reported that it looked like Hayden wasn’t leaving this summer, this means he could stick around, earn an England call-up and see his value soar as a result.

After all, a player with international experience, particularly one regular featuring for their nation, will surely be worth more than someone deemed not good enough for a call-up.

Hayden has never been capped at senior level for his country and only ever managed to earn two caps for England’s U-21s, yet his current value stands at £15million as reported by the Nothern Echo, so imagine how much he could be worth with a few senior caps to his name.

The 24-year-old impressed in his 2018/19 campaign as he helped guide the Magpies to 11 wins in his 25 league outings, and made the role of midfield enforcer his own.

Hayden made 73 tackles, had a tackle success rate of 59%, made 40 interceptions and made 28 clearances to help make his side sturdy at the back in his latest league campaign. (Source: Premier League)

The midfielder also averaged 28.8 passes per game, which isn’t too shabby, and managed to score one as well as create four big chances across his league outings.

Considering that Hayden made an extremely slow start to his season last year, he featured in only 2 of the Magpies’ opening 11 league games, he can easily match his numbers from last season if not better them.

So when you consider Ashley appears to love signing players on the cheap and selling them on for a big price, seeing how Ayoze Perez was brought for £1.5million in June 2014 and sold for £30million earlier this summer, as per the BBC, then the Magpies chief will be salivating over the thought of Hayden’s price rocketing if he can earn an England call-up.

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