- Lewis Miley scored for Newcastle in their 3-0 win over Fulham on Saturday
- Miley plays without fear, much like Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham
- Is there now huge pressure on Newcastle to finish in the top four? Listen to the debate on It’s All Kicking Off
Get close to Lewis Miley and he doesn’t look old enough to be cleaning boots. Watch him from afar and you realise that few will ever be good enough to lace his.
At 17, he does not look like a player of potential. He looks like a player for now, and how Newcastle needed him on Saturday.
Miley was supposed to be resting after seven straight starts amid the squad’s injury crisis. But as restlessness spread and 10-man Fulham dug in for a point, substitute Miley dug his team out of a hole. His first senior goal made him the youngest-ever Premier League scorer for his boyhood club — given he’s still just a boy, that feels odd.
Indeed, he has been a ballboy at St James’ Park more times than he has played, although that will soon change.
Miley’s emergence has been the antidote to the ills of the injury list. This, however, is no lucky break. The midfielder was always destined to be a star, his name long since spoken about in North-East football circles and beyond.
What has surprised many is how ready-made he is for Premier League football. Not just that, Champions League, too. He starred in Paris last month on a pitch alongside Kylian Mbappe and got his first European assist against AC Milan in midweek.
But scoring goals is what causes talk to intensify around any young player. Eddie Howe says Miley has goals in him but it’s not the most obvious of his many assets. Sometimes, though, a player is so good that, by extension, they simply do score goals. Look at Jude Bellingham. In time, you can see Miley evolving into an attacking midfielder of similar impact.
It is not a fanciful comparison, either. Ability aside, it is mentality that separates the likes of Miley and Bellingham from their peers. A maturity that allows a boy to step into a man’s game and look like the oldest player on the park. Miley has that self-confidence and composure, evidenced by his cool finish at the Gallowgate End just as his team were feeling the heat.
One Mail Sport viewer of an older vintage compared him to Duncan Edwards over the weekend. He made his England debut at 18. Will Miley beat that? He will need at least the rest of this season maintaining this level of form and exposure to England Under 21s before that becomes a reality.
But it will happen. The boy with the baby face is no longer making baby steps. These are giant strides he is taking and it won’t be long before he is wearing boots that others simply cannot fill.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
