I was Chelsea’s best academy player – leaving the club has worked out perfectly | Football

Newcastle United star Lewis Hall insists he left Chelsea at the ‘perfect time’, adding he ‘wouldn’t have achieved’ what he has if he had stayed at the club.

Hall joined Chelsea’s academy at the age of eight and spent over a decade at Cobham before making his senior debut in the 2022/23 season under Graham Potter.

He made 12 first-team appearances for the Blues and was named their Academy Player of the Season, with many tipping him for a bright future at Stamford Bridge.

Fans were then saddened and frustrated that the club chose to sell one of their own, with the left-back joining Newcastle in a deal worth an initial £28million, which could rise to £35m after add-ons.

Since his departure, Chelsea have gone from strength-to-strength, winning the Conference League and Club World Cup in 2025, with Enzo Maresca’s side well-placed to challenge for the Premier League and Champions League titles.

But Hall has also enjoyed success, becoming a key player under Eddie Howe, breaking into the England team and winning the Carabao Cup last season – the Magpies’ first trophy since 1969.

The 21-year-old thinks everything has ‘worked out perfectly’ since moving to St. James’ Park, saying: ‘The club [Chelsea] was unbelievable for me, but I think I left at the perfect time.

‘The direction that this club wants to go in, how everything was unfolding at Chelsea at the time, it was the right time for me to come here.

‘The way Chelsea wanted to go forward with lots and lots of young talent, it was best for my career that I made this move and I think it has panned out really well for me.

‘Obviously having family connections to Newcastle was a really big factor. But everything footballing-wise had to be right as well. I really believed in it at the time and I think it’s worked out perfectly.

‘I’ve achieved a lot of things which I don’t think I would have been able to achieve if I would have stayed there. But Chelsea has played a massive part in helping me to be that player who got the move in the first place and I’m always grateful for that.’

Chelsea haven’t felt the loss of Hall so much as left-back Marc Cucurella has been one of their best and most consistent players of the Todd Boehly era, though there is no doubt a bit of frustration that an academy graduate is performing so well for a Premier League rival.

Hall’s comments came in Newcastle’s matchday programme ahead of the 2-2 draw with Chelsea last weekend.

The result has left the Blues fourth in the table, with the Magpies six points adrift in 11th ahead of the big Boxing Day clash away to Manchester United.

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