Newcastle United’s U21s have been concerned in a weird finish to a sport on Tuesday night time within the youthful Tyne-Wear derby towards Sunderland.
Black Cats goalkeeper Alex Bass scored a 94th-minute equaliser after arising for a nook after which admitted, after the match, that the ball got here off his hand and will have been disallowed.
Outside of the controversial finish to the sport, there have been loads of positives to take from Newcastle’s show and first-team supervisor Eddie Howe could also be excited by the prospect of selling a number of of the gamers who have been on present.
One teen who caught the attention through the sport was left-back, and summer season signing, Alex Murphy. Magpies journalist Dominic Scurr handed the gem an 8/10 for his efficiency, writing:
“The highly-rated defender’s first taste of Tyne-Wear derby action saw him lead the side out as captain. The summer signing got stuck in and was a calm head at the back to help keep Sunderland at bay. Despite being one of the youngest members of the squad, Murphy plays with a maturity and composure beyond his years.”
Murphy signed from Galway United in the summertime and their chairman, Jack Barrett, beforehand claimed that the teenager is a “huge talent“.
Is Murphy a future star for Newcastle?
Yes
No
The 18-year-old has caught the attention since making the transfer to Newcastle, and is beginning to reside as much as that tag with Daily Mail journalist Craig Hope claiming that he has been “impressed” by the left-back forward of the conflict with Sunderland earlier this week.
He is an international for the Republic of Ireland at youth degree and has proven indicators of promise towards senior sides within the EFL Trophy this season. In two video games towards Doncaster and Lincoln, Murphy made a mixed 5 tackles and interceptions, created one probability, and gained an distinctive 82% of his aerial battles – as per SofaScore.
These statistics present that he has the potential to play professionally as he has confirmed, on the age of 18, that he can stand as much as the bodily check of enjoying towards skilled, senior, gamers. For context, Dan Burn and Matt Targett have gained 70% and 56% of their aerial battles respectively within the Premier League.
He did greater than maintain his personal in these matches as he bodily dominated the opposition within the air and this implies that he could deal with the step as much as first-team degree from that perspective, which is backed up by his 32 appearances for Galways’s senior facet.
Therefore, Howe could strike gold with Murphy by serving to him to develop right into a key first-team participant for the Magpies sooner or later.
The teenager, who has two assists within the Premier League 2 this season, has loads of years left forward of him to develop and enhance as a full-back, and his early kind for the U21s suggests that he’s a gem value mining within the months and years to come back.