City yesterday announced the signing of Isaac Hayden from Newcastle United, the first since Dean Smith took over back in November.
He initially signs on a loan deal, but City have the option to make it permanent, should they get promoted at the end of the season.
Hayden came through the Arsenal academy, captaining their Under-18s and Under-21s and making 25 appearances for England’s youth teams. Arsene Wenger praised the midfielder’s intelligence, strength and concentration during his time with the Gunners.
In 2015, he completed a loan move to Hull, where he achieved the first of two promotions to the top flight in two seasons. After achieving promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs, he made a permanent move to Newcastle, helping them bounce back in style, accumulating 94 points.
He played 161 times for the Toon, 118 in the Premier League. Their official club website describes him as having “gone on to establish himself as a solid, consistent performer among English football’s elite.”
An injury-stricken season saw Hayden left out of Eddie Howe’s 25-man squad in the second half of last season, leading to his departure now.
Dean Smith said on City’s official site:
‘He’s a really good footballer and has both excellent technical and ball-winning qualities. He plays mainly as a holding midfielder, is good aerially and we believe he can be very good for us in both boxes.
‘He brings a lot of experience of both the Premier League and Championship. We know he is a really good personality and character and that will add to our group.’
That last point is an important one. It shows a clear intent to rebuild the character in the dressing room and connect fans to the player.
Hayden said on canaries.co.uk: ‘The head coach was a big factor for me. He called me straight away and saw that I was out of the picture at Newcastle. I had spoken to him a few times before and he always struck me as somebody who was trying to do the right things and doing things very well at football clubs.
‘I am really looking forward to it. I have looked at the squad and spoken to Stuart Webber and the manager about what they want to achieve and winning the division is, obviously, the aim.’
Isaac Hayden, hopefully, the first of several new faces, can bring much-needed fire to the midfield. Let us know what you think of City’s new man in the comments.
As a season ticket holder at Newcastle for many years what you are getting is someone who gives 100% every game, never shirks a tackle and I believe is a top champuonship player. Never going to be 1st choice in a top half premier league team but will be a great asset for Norwich. No Newcastle fan would speak badly of him. Good luck Isaac.
Very happy with this, and the fact that Toon fans think so highly of him is a very good sign. It seems that Smith was instrumental in this signing, so that’s another good sign. He can start to build the sort of team that he wants to play his way.
Lets hope that he turns out to be the solution we’ve been waiting for as in DM .
Pleased this is the 1st position we looked to solve . Thumbs up for once .
At last a midfielder who can tackle bye bye kenny
Whilst I too am happy with this signing and think he’s exactly the sort of player we need who can not only play well in the championship but be able to transition and hold his own in the PL too.
On another note, I don’t necessarily trust the toons recommendations, even as Hootun destroyed any enjoyment in our football and took the team backwards, there was not a toon fan who would have it that he wasn’t brilliant and that we were lucky to have him!
I think his career since might back our side!
Brilliant news Jamie, and it seems he is very well liked by the Newcastle faithful and for me they are top, top references as the Geordies certainly know their football.
Welcome to the club Isaac.
Could we finally have a replacement for “It is me Tettey” ? 😂
The Pink’un rep[oreted that the ‘option’ to buy if we are promoted is actually an ‘obligation’. Either way, he looks to be an excellent acquisition.
Looks like a decent player and always glad to have English football experience in the team.
However, it looks like he’s only played 53% of potential league games over seven seasons (151 games out of 282).. So potential injury concerns here.
He could be a great acquisition…..but, as it always seems with Stuart Webber, we should remember that he has not kicked a ball in anger for Newcastle since December when he underwent surgery for a knee injury.
If he can regain full fitness he will be the best midfielder in the Championship without doubt. But as we know with Kabak and Normann, if is a very big small word.
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