Newcastle United youngster Lucas De Bolle was a surprise inclusion in Eddie Howe's squad for the home game with Aston Villa last month. Taking his place alongside established seniors such as Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron, some assumed that the 19-year-old's presence was mainly down to knocks and niggles in the squad.
But De Bolle has done more than just hang around, he's since made a further three appearances on the bench and has impressed Eddie Howe in training. This week De Bolle was back in action for the Under-23s but there were no signs that playing for the second string was beneath him. Instead, the Edinburgh-born midfielder slotted into Elliott Dickman's midfield and calmly patrolled proceedings in a 4-3 win over West Bromwich Albion.
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De Bolle joined the club at the age of 13 after his family relocated from Scotland and signed a professional deal last summer. He is a former season ticket holder and is now living a dream.
The youngster's range of passing is fantastic with a superb variation of long and short balls and always probing to find space and bring team-mates into the game. That was the case when he was integral for the moment that got Newcastle back into the game on Monday evening.
On a night when Santiago Munoz's presence was always going to grab the headlines, De Bolle's contributions are still there for all to see too. He swept a fantastic play over to the right for Joe Oliver on 51 minutes before he clipped a cross to the Mexican Under-23 star to head home.
That was the lifeline Newcastle needed at 1-0 down to help inspire a comeback with De Bolle at the centre of things on the night. De Bolle will remain on the fringes for Howe's squad but with the possibility of Newcastle securing their Premier League place with time to spare, he could get a debut towards the end of the season at first-team level.
Howe has ensured that youngsters are very much a big part of everyday training and Jay Turner-Cooke and Isaac Westendorf were also spotted in action at Benton yesterday in the build-up to the weekend journey to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
De Bolle adds serious competition to a competitive midfield area that has already seen Isaac Hayden left out of the squad, Sean Longstaff on the bench and Jonjo Shelvey vying to get in a central trio that contains Joelinton, Bruno and Joe Willock.
But De Bolle is there on merit and if he gets that senior bow before the end of the season it will be down to consistent good performances at second string level. Newcastle have money to spend these days but De Bolle could save them millions if he keeps progressing like this.
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