The curious case of Lewis Miley
If there was one silver lining to the injury crisis at St James' Park last season it was the emergence of Lewis Miley. Within the 4 walls of St James' Park there were high hopes for Miley but nobody could have foreseen how quickly he took to regular first team football.
Arguably one of the highlights of the season was Miley opening his account in front of the Gallowgate End against Fulham to establish himself as the latest local hero.
Unfortunately Miley's breakout season was cut short on international duty in March with a back injury which was then followed by a freak broken metatarsal in training during pre season which has ruled Miley out for three months. Without a full pre-season, Miley will be behind the eight ball going into the new season and arguably could be sixth choice central midfielder by the time he regains fitness.
Which bodes the question as to what to do with Miley this season? Guimaraes, Joelinton, Tonali, Willock and Longstaff are all arguably ahead of Miley in the pecking order and with no European football this season it means less fixtures to go around.
At 18 years of age, time is on his side but this is an important campaign in terms of his development as we have seen players mismanaged in years past. There are two options for Miley this season:
- Stay with the first team and accept a reduced role in the squad. This is unofficially knows as the "Phil Foden" method where Miley would stay with the first team and learn from the more senior pro's rather than going out on loan searching for first team football. This would enable Miley to stay within the bubble and be ready to step up at a moments notice. I think this would be the preferred method at least until the January transfer window.
- Go out on loan in January for first team football. This is arguably the riskier of the two options as Newcastle (and Shola) don't have the greatest track record with finding good quality loans for players. Taking Garang Kuol as a primary example, he went out on loan to Volendam who quickly changed managers and Kuol wasted a season there. This absolutely cannot happen to a player of Miley's potential.
With the metatarsal injury sidelining Miley until the end of September there will be no decision to be made until January but it will be an interesting storyline to keep an eye on during the season.
Let's hope that if Miley does play regular football its due to him training the house down and not another injury crisis!
