The big question at NUFC right now is, “What happened to Lewis Hall?”

Because of his Geordie parents, the young Chelsea academy graduate grew up a Newcastle fan and this summer got his dream move to the North East on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy for an initial £28 million, which could rise to £35 million if certain criteria are met.

That’s a lot of money for a teenager, but Hall came with a lot of promise after demonstrating his abilities in a Chelsea shirt last season.

However, things haven’t gone as planned for Newcastle fans since his arrival. There was a lot of buzz surrounding Hall before we signed him, and it continued after we signed him, but we’ve only seen snippets of the versatile left-back since then.

Tino Livramento has been used out of position in favor of Lewis Hall.

Tino Livramento, despite being a right-back, has been preferred at left-back over Hall during the injury crisis. Even last night, Dan Burn, who had just returned from injury, was inserted into the starting lineup against AC Milan ahead of Hall, and fans are beginning to wonder what is going on.

We have a few theories, one of which we believe is the most likely.

One theory is that Howe does not want too many inexperienced youngsters in the squad given how difficult our opponents have been.

Another possibility is that Lewis Hall is underperforming in training. Anthony Gordon stated at the end of last season that he couldn’t get up to speed in training because it was so much more intense than what he was used to. Lewis Hall may be in the same situation, and all he needs is time.

The theory we’re leaning toward is that there are conditions in the loan agreement that must be met before the obligation to buy becomes active – we don’t know for sure and thus have no idea what the conditions may be – and Eddie Howe, having had a closer look at Hall, may not believe he’s the player he thought he was, so he’s making sure the conditions aren’t met so Hall can return to Chelsea next season.

It sounds harsh, but in order to reach the levels that Newcastle desires, we must become ruthless, and if a player isn’t performing, we must take action. It’s worth noting, however, that The Athletic recently wrote about Lewis Hall and stated that he’s still regarded as a future Newcastle player. He was signed as a ‘project player,’ so he is unlikely to make an immediate impact.

As we said, it’s all speculation on our part, and The Athletic certainly knows a lot more than we do, but it all seems strange. We won’t know the truth until the end of the season, but there has to be a reason why Lewis Hall isn’t getting more chances aside from the fact that we haven’t seen anything close to his best in black and white.