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Ciaran Kelly

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has already taken note of calm midfielder you won't find on Wikipedia

Lucas de Bolle has watched countless games at St James' Park over the years, but the 19-year-old won't forget Newcastle United's win against Aston Villa in a hurry.

De Bolle, who only signed his first professional contract with the club last summer, was named on the bench by Eddie Howe for the first time on Sunday.

Although Howe's decision was partly influenced by the absence of Jamaal Lascelles, Matt Targett, Federico Fernandez, Matt Ritchie and Callum Wilson, the Newcastle head coach has been impressed by the composed midfielder's performances in training.

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De Bolle and fellow youngster Michael Ndiweni have been rubbing shoulders with Kieran Trippier et al in recent weeks after a number of outfield players secured loan moves last month.

The boyhood Newcastle fan previously trained under Steve Bruce, but has naturally been enjoying every moment of his extended run of sessions in recent weeks after dreaming of such an opportunity when he first joined the club seven years ago.

"Training with the first team has been valuable experience, being around them in training sessions but also in the gym and seeing how they work," de Bolle told the club's website just last week.

"You also see how they talk and think in video meetings too and it's been great to learn from those experiences.

"I think I've put in good performances for the under-23s, playing every minute for the last nine games. I think I'm in good form and training with the first-team has been a reward because of that."

Although Howe signed five players last month, the Newcastle head coach has said, himself, that the academy 'needs to be brought closer to the first team'.

Howe has made a conscious effort to watch youth team training sessions - from the under-11s all the way up - and was at St James to witness the young Magpies defeat Colchester United in the FA Youth Cup last month.

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