Isaac Hayden - the Future?
Friday night saw youngster Isaac Hayden don the infamous jersey of Newcastle United, wearing the number 14 shirt. The young lad’s journey started very positively in the eyes of the majority of fans closely spectating him. Albeit the disappointment of the team’s overall performance and result, one of the key factors pointed out was just how much Hayden looked at home tucked in that deep midfield role. This has inevitably led to high hopes being perceived already but the big question still remains; can he grow to be a superstar in the future?
Hayden started his youth career training with Southend United, before being signed up by Arsenal in 2008, where he began to make a name for himself in one of Wengers and Arsenals cliché “youngster teams”, starting his professional career against West Brom in a league cup 3rd round battle. Wenger had stated the key attributes of the youngster had been his concentration, strength and intelligence. After apparently falling out of favour at Arsenal, the versatile midfielder/defender made a move to Hull City on loan for the start of the 2015/16 championship season, in an attempt to gain some first team football.
Within Hull’s promotion gaining season, Hayden made 18 appearances, a fair amount for a player getting regular first team football for the first time in his developing career. Playing primarily as a holding midfielder in the Hull team, alongside new Toon recruit Mo Diame, Hayden’s performances had been described as being ‘commanding’ and ‘physical’, impressing ex-manager Steve Bruce, who was more than keen to keep Hayden on the books at Hull. The only potential downside to what is currently his marquee season, is the fact that he only scored once, rounding up a 6-0 hammering of Charlton with a deflected effort from just outside the box. However, who really expects a good goal scoring record from a holding midfielder?!
Following this evidently successful loan spell and campaign, on July 10th Newcastle Utd confirmed the signing of Hayden on a 5 year deal for a fee believed to be around the £2m mark. This deal was met with a mixed bag of emotion from Arsenal fans; many suggesting that he will become a big loss in the future years, as well as Hull fans being disappointed that they couldn’t secure his services for yet another year. Amid interest from a new Premier League club, Hayden stated that working under Toon boss Rafa Benitez during his ‘Rafalution’, is what persuaded him to join NUFC for the upcoming Championship season.
As previously stated, his first game in a Toon shirt showed a great amount of promise, with the youngster looking confident on the ball right from the off. Hayden’s quality with the ball, always looking to advance and seek out a forward pass and making commanding runs past players showed the travelling Geordies why he can turn out to be a pivotal point in the midfield this season, showing the physicality that is needed in the Championship. As well as that, Hayden put in a fair shift, showing some fantastic defensive ability by putting in some brilliant challenges on advancing Fulham players. Hayden’s bow came to an end on the 77th minute, making way for Jonjo Shelvey. Overall, Hayden should be closely watched by fans this season, as he can only grow into a better and more complete player, showing the characteristics to hold down this midfield role for many years to come.
