Watch Newcastle signing Vakhtang Salia score brilliant header on first competitive start

Back in October 2024, Newcastle United announced that Vakhtang Salia had agreed to join from Dinamo Tiblisi.

The talented forward was pictured at the club's training ground, where he met Eddie Howe as former sporting director Paul Mitchell gave him a tour of our Benton base.

As we know, Salia could only sign the following August once he'd turned 18, but the last seven months have been tough for the 18-year-old, with a long-term injury delaying his competitive debut for Newcastle until just this week.

A week on from scoring in a friendly match, the teenage forward produced this powerful header to give Newcastle's Under-21s a 2-0 lead over Leicester City in the Premier League 2 last night:

🇬🇪 Vakhtang Salia with a bullet header on his first Premier League 2 appearance for Newcastle United.

Great to see the 18-year-old Georgian showing what he can do after returning from injury.

⚫️⚪️ That’s now 2 goals in 2 games. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/I56U0bN1Rt

— Olly Hawkins (@Olly_Hawk) March 10, 2026

Newcastle went on to draw the match 2-2, but it's great to see the young Georgian back fit and scoring goals in our youth set up.

With the club beating Arsenal and a number of top European sides to his signature 18 months ago, it will be interesting to see how Salia progresses in 2026 after arriving as one of the few coups of Paul Mitchell era.