OFFICIAL: Newcastle complete first summer transfer, acquire defender Alex Murphy

It’s finally going down.

After re-signing Fabian Schar, Paul Dummet, and Sean Longstaff to keep them on Tyneside, the first real transfer of the season was announced early on Saturday as Newcastle United confirmed the addition of Galway’s center-back defender Alex Murphy to the club. Hurray!

This marks the first transfer of the new ownership in a summer window as the (still and until late June) 17-year-old defender from Galway United joins the Magpies organization in advance of the 2022/23 campaign.

Murphy, who has already played for the Irish U-18 and U-19 national teams, can claim to himself the achievements of captaining the former side while performing for the latter in official European Championship qualifier-stage games last March.

Given his age and the ongoing developmental process, Murphy still finds himself in, this signing profiles as a long-term acquisition by the board with sights put on the future. For now, Murphy is expected to join the Under-23s Mini Magpies under the guidance of Elliott Dickman.

The Magpie Academy just got a morale injection as both products Paul Dummett and Sean Longstaff are staying in Newcastle for at least a good bunch of months after re-inking his deals with the club in the past few weeks.

Speaking to NUFC.co.uk, Newcastle’s Academy manager Steve Harper said that “[Newcastle] are very pleased to have secured a deal to bring Alex to NUFC.” He added that “[Murphy] is a very promising young player who has attracted a lot of attention from clubs. It’s a real coup for our Academy and is a testament to the direction the club is going in under our owners.”

RTE Sports’ Johnny Ward already reported this deal back in mid-April. The news has finally turned out to be true with Alex Murphy joining Newcastle just days before the transfer market opens its doors next month.

Murphy had in fact been linked to the likes of Brighton and Celtic in the UK, and Torino outside of the British Islands. A professional footballer since he signed such a deal back in January with Galway, Murphy debuted among pros at age-16 and was close to making the Irish U-21 squad last October.

You can get a glimpse of Alex Murphy’s game in the clip below.