Newcastle United are reportedly pushing for a deadline-day move for Harrison Ashby, who only has one year left on his West Ham United contract.
Newcastle United hold a serious interest in West Ham United’s promising defender Harrison Ashby and are continuing to explore a deal to get the defender in a deadline-day swoop. That is according to Sky Sports’ North-East correspondent Keith Downie, who claims the Magpies are in talks with West Ham to land the young right-back in the wake of Emil Krafth’s long injury lay-off.
Eddie Howe confirmed last week that Krafth would be sidelined for the next six to nine months after suffering an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury during Newcastle United’s 2-1 EFL Cup win over Tranmere Rovers.
The Sweden international’s absence has left Newcastle a little short in the right-back department, with Kieran Trippier and Javier Manquillo the only two options. But the latter has not played any minutes, despite being named four times on the bench in the six games across all competitions so far, and was not involved much in pre-season games either.
Howe recently claimed that bringing in another full-back is not high on his priority list. However, according to Sky Sports, talks are underway between West Ham and Newcastle over a potential deal for youngster Ashby.
BREAKING: Newcastle are in talks with West Ham over defender Harrison Ashby ⚒️? pic.twitter.com/zm9sH1WCRU
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 1, 2022
Ashby is a Scotland Under-21 international and has already made six appearances for West Ham’s senior side since making his first-team debut in August last year. The 20-year-old is a product of the Hammers’ academy and has developed into a promising attacking full-back. The youngster has started four of his six senior games, including the club’s 3-1 Europa Conference League triumph against Viborg earlier this month.
The swashbuckling defender has been tipped for a bright future by West Ham boss David Moyes but is behind Vladimir Coufal and Ben Johnson in the pecking order and only has one year remaining on his current deal, which has attracted significant interest from top-flight clubs such as Newcastle and Leeds.
Newcastle, though, are currently the frontrunners to secure his services, enticing Ashby with the prospect of becoming a full-fledged member of the Magpies’ first-team squad. Another advantage of acquiring the West Ham defender is that he will not be included in Newcastle’s senior 25-man Premier League roster, since he will be registered as an additional Under-21 player.
It remains to be seen whether Newcastle can put forward a tempting offer to prise Ashby away from the London Stadium on deadline day.
