Newcastle signed U19 Reece Byrne from Bohemians

Newcastle United have signed Republic of Ireland U19 goalkeeper Reece Byrne ahead of the summer transfer window which opens next July 1st, Jacob Whitehead of The Athletic reported on Thursday evening.

No official announcement has been made public yet. However, the youngster already posted a picture of his signing with the Magpies organization on his social networks on April 13.

Reece Byrne IG

The goalkeeper, still aged 18, is currently under contract at the Irish club Bohemians. The player announced his signature on his personal IG account with a photo in which he can be seen signing the contract along with some members of his family and/or relatives.

Byrne captioned his post calling it a “proud day for me and my family” in relation “to sign for such a big club like Newcastle.” The goalie finished the quote writing “onwards and upwards from here”.

A late announcement is expected by Newcastle as the Magpies will slide this signing into the next summer transfer market, which will officially open on July 1st. This will make Byrne the first signing of the summer and thus the 2023/24 season for Newcastle.

Byrne has only play once for the first team of Bohemians while he’s already played for the U19 international side.

The current Bohemians goalie will join a few highly-coveted prospects already in the Newcastle underage ranks. The Magpies are considered to have a strong stable of goalkeepers in their U21 team, including England Under-18 goalkeeper Max Thompson and Scotland Under-19 international Jude Smith.

Byrne will join left-back Alex Murphy, a fellow Ireland age-grade international, in the academy set-up.

Although Byrne will “officially” become the first signing of the upcoming campaign, the truth is that the goalkeeper can actually be considered the second one if Harrison Ashby doesn’t make his debut this season after joining from West Ham U21 at the end of the winter transfer window.

Congratulations, Byrne!