OFFICIAL: Defender Lewis Cass leaves Newcastle, joins Port Vale on a free

Academy product and long-time Newcastle defender Lewis Cass is leaving Tyneside for good this summer. Cass is joining Port Vale on a permanent basis after spending the months from July on with the then League Two club with a loan deal. Cass helped Port Vale getting promoted to the League One for next season, and that’s the competition he will deservedly play while staying in the Stoke-on-Trent based organization.

Born in February of the year 2000 and still only 22 years old, Cass is looking to bolster his playing time and aid his development, so a move away from a cash-loaded Newcastle made sense for both sides. Cass played as a centre-back for Newcastle’s underage teams and Port Vale, though he also appeared on the right-back position when needed there.

Cass got promoted from Newcastle’s youth squads to the U18 side in 2016 and completed two spells away from home at Hartlepool first (2020/21 season) and Port Vale of late (2021/22) without ever appearing for Newcastle’s senior side, topping at the U23/reserve squad. Playing for Port Vale this season, Cass appeared on 19 League Two games, 4 EFL Trophy matches, 3 FA Cup outings, and a single EFL Cup affair against Sunderland coming off the pine and logging 25 minutes of playing time. Cass closed last season getting a total of 2,006 minutes, assisting three goals, and scoring one himself for Port Vale.

The League Two club achieved promotion to the upper League One tier for the upcoming season thanks, at least in part, to the performances of their loanee-and-now-permanent player Lewis Cass. The defender’s season got cut short, though, as he suffered an ankle ligament injury last January and could not recover in time to many any other appearance for Port Vale throughout the last few months of the recently finished season.

This is Newcastle’s second transfer out of the summer following Isaac Hayden’s departure to Norwich (on a loan deal but with a pre-arranged must-buy clause attached to it that will be executed next summer).

We here at Coming Home Newcastle hope the best for Cass in his future now that he’s entering a new chapter in his still baby-young career. Good luck, Lewis!