Newcastle United have made a key signing as they look to improve their Academy set-up by appointing Manchester City scout Paul Midgley as new head of youth recruitment.
Midgley joins the club from Manchester City where he will work alongside sporting director Dan Ashworth and Academy boss Steve Harper. Midgley has been with the Engish champions since May where he served as their Northern UK Youth Scouting Manager.
Having impressed at Leeds in a head of national Academy recruitment role, as well as Sunderland for two years as a regional talent spotter, Midgley comes in to work with a familiar face in Under-21 coach Elliott Dickman and Mark Atkinson who is head of player development.
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Ashworth and co will hope that Midgley, who hails from Norton, will enhance the club's Academy scouting network. United's Under-21 side are suffering a tough spell at the moment while the Under-18s sit 10th in their division.
Midgley's hire is deemed as an excellent appointment on the football circuit as Newcastle look to improve their younger teams after a series of tricky campaigns. Ashworth came in during pre-season and has already improved the club across the board with some quick work in the summer window.
Ashworth told Chronicle Live before the World Cup break: "That (just staying up) is not enough anymore.
"So, consequently, you have to upscale the majority of departments and facilities in order to try to achieve our goals, which are to finish higher up the league, to compete for trophies and aspirational targets.
"The trajectory the club is going towards over the next few years. So, consequently, there is a building out of structures and capacity in order to be able to achieve that."
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