In midst of releases, Newcastle United extended this young star

On the day when Newcastle released several of their U23 development squad players, there was better news for young winger Callum ‘Cal’ Roberts, as he is set to be offered a new deal by the club.

Roberts, who has previously been compared to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by youth coach Peter Beardsley, looks likely to remain on Tyneside, surviving a cull of the club’s young players, with 15 of his U23 teammates set to be released. The only other player to be offered a new deal was striker Luke Charman.

Roberts, who has had previous loan spells with Gateshead and Kilmarnock, making a total of 13 appearances, gave a glimpse of his potential, scoring a free kick in the Premier League International Cup defeat of Sunderland two days ago. This season, he has appeared in nine matches for Newcastle’s development squad, scoring 3 goals and assisting 1.

Newcastle have a fairly dismal track record in recent years for bringing through talent from the youth ranks, with only a solitary first team player, Paul Dummett, having made the grade recently. Despite that, hopes are high for Roberts, and certainly in offering him a new contract, Newcastle are showing that he is expected to have a bright future with the club. For the time being, he will likely follow a similar path to Adam Armstrong, and go out on loan to a club in the EFL next season, to gain vital match experience.