Why Chelsea have agreed to sell Lewis Hall to Newcastle

Chelsea have accepted a £28million offer from Newcastle for Lewis Hall who is expected to complete a move to St James’ Park this week.

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The Blues were reluctant to allow the versatile 18-year-old leave and had only offered him a new six-year contract earlier this month.

According to the Telegraph, however, Chelsea U-turned on their initial plan to loan out the youngster and took a view that Newcastle’s offer was simply too good to turn down.

During a turbulent campaign, during which Chelsea employed three different managers, Hall’s emergence proved to be one of the few encouraging signs.

Chelsea have since, however, embarked on another astonishing spending spree which has, in part, been counter balanced through player sales.

While they have broken the British transfer record for Moises Caicedo and also added the likes of Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson and Robert Sanchez, a string of high-profile players have been allowed to depart.

The likes of Kai Havertz and Mason Mount fetched a combined fee of over £120million, while high earners like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Christian Pulisic and Kalidou Koulibaly are off the wage bill.

With Romeo Lavia and Michael Olise set to arrive from Southampton and Crystal Palace, respectively, Chelsea’s spending under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital led consortium is edging towards the £100m mark.

Although the club are confident they are not in breach of any financial fair play regulations, they are keen to cash-in on as many saleable assets as possible to ease any concerns.

Hall made 12 first team appearances last term and although he had been earmarked for successful first team career at his boyhood club, Chelsea are already well stocked defensively in the full-back areas, especially following the return to fitness of Ben Chilwell and Reece James.

Newcastle, meanwhile, will be delighted to secure the services of a player who only 24 hours earlier appeared out of reach.

Eddie Howe’s side began their Premier League campaign with a crushing 5-1 win over Aston Villa during which summer signings Harvey Barnes and Sandro Tonali both got off the mark.

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