Newcastle United youngster Rory Finneran is set to join Notts County on loan after the club decided a spell of senior football would be best to continue his impressive progress over the last 12 months.
Finneran is one United have high hopes on. He was rewarded for his displays with an unexpected senior international debut for the Republic of Ireland this summer.
Academy standout
The highly-rated midfielder has established himself as one of the brightest prospects in the Magpies academy setup and captained Robbie Stockdale's Under-21s side in Monday's Premier League 2 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur.
For Finneran, that means a loan move away from St James Park. He came under the gaze of a whole host of scouts from EFL, National League and Scottish clubs at Whitley Park on Monday but it is League Two side Notts County who have won the race for the 18-year-old.
Under-21s lead coach Robbie Stockdale confirmed the former Blackburn Rovers youngster had plenty interest from clubs willing to take him on loan. He told Chronicle Live: “Rory, I made him captain because he needs to work on those leadership skills. I think he’s got loads of ability and we are already driving him to have more of an influence on the game as a six. He’s got it in him, we need to see more consistency, but again, there is a little bit of interest in Rory.”
More departures expected
There were a significant amount of scouts from across the football pyramid taking in the Magpies Under-21s defeat against Spurs. Sean Neave and Miodrag Pivas both enjoyed first-team game-time during pre-season and are believed to be attracting serious interest. Trevan Sanusi will also hope to earn more senior experience after an underwhelming spell with French club Lorient - although an injury he picked up in Monday's defeat may hamper his chances of heading out over the next week.
When asked about possible departures before Tuesday's deadline, Stockdale said: “I’d expect so - and then what we will do is give opportunities comes down to the younger players pushing them as well. I would imagine come next week, the team could look, in several positions, look differently.”
Salia stance
Young Georgian forward Vakhtang Salia endured a challenging introduction to life with Newcastle after he suffered a nasty hamstring injury just weeks after officially becoming a Magpies player. However, the 18-year-old has wasted little time in making an impact during his first full season on Tyneside after finding the net in United Under-21s National League Cup defeat against Tamworth last week before scoring in Monday's Premier League 2 clash with Spurs.
Stockdale conceded they are being cautious with Salia as he works his way towards full fitness. “Vako has been a bit of a slow burner for us because he came into us last year and picked up a really nasty hamstring injury that required surgery and truth be told, he has felt that on and off during his rehab. Even in pre-season, we have been quite careful. We don’t want him to get injured again so we are slowly building his minutes up. You can see he’s a powerful boy, he’s got that senior football background from Georgia. You can see that in how he plays. He’s not ready for 90 minutes yet so we are trying to build him up and that’s the issue with the 21s, they’re all at different stages.”
Seung-Soo injury and interest
South Korean winger Seung-Soo Park is another Magpies youngster attracting interest from clubs in recent weeks. After a slow start to life on Tyneside as he acclimatised to a new culture on and off the pitch, the young winger improved towards the latter stages of last season and looked set for a key role within the Under-21s setup.
A niggling injury has limited his involvement to two substitute appearances during the first week of this season - but Stockdale admitted he could still make a temporary move away from Tyneside if Newcastle felt the move was right for the player. He said: “I think pretty much all of the players will be attracting interest and it’s whether the club decide that’s the right club for these players to go on loan. Seung-Soo picked up a niggle two weeks ago, which is why he’s been slowly brought back into it. He probably got more minutes today because Trevan went off earlier than planned.”
