Newcastle United have moved to strengthen their youth programme by recruiting highly regarded former Leeds United man Paul Midgley. The 34-year-old has been appointed as the Magpies’ new head of youth recruitment and Newcastle will hoping he can build on the work he did during his time at Elland Road.
Midgley spent two years with the Whites as the club’s head of national recruitment, pushing to sign up some of the brightest young talents around. However, he left his position in April 2022 to take up a scouting manager role with Manchester City.
He has now made the move to the North East and he’ll be tasked with saving Newcastle United money in the long run as they look to strengthen the pathway between the academy and the first-team at St James’ Park. Leeds U21s centre-back Jeremiah Mullen is one of the players to join United under Midgley’s watch and his agent Martin Waldron has been outspoken about the talent spotter’s ability in the role.
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"Paul is bright and aggressive," Waldron told ChronicleLive. "In recruitment, if you do well, normally, you're aggressive and you've got your players - and he is. He's good, thorough and did a good job at Leeds. You only have to look at all the young players that came into Leeds and he was involved with most of them.
"Also, if you're going to be good at your job in recruitment, you've got to be approachable. If someone rings you, you've got to answer it. In recruitment, people get phone calls and don't always answer and don't always get back to you, but Paul answers as quick as he can and gets back to you as quick as he can. An hour in football could cost you millions so you've got to be on the ball - and he is."
Midgley held roles with Stockton Town, York City and Sunderland before landing his role at Leeds United.
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