On the Everything is Black and White podcast, Lee Ryder spoke highly of Newcastle United’s hopes for defender Kelland Watts.
Newcastle suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of York City in their first pre-season friendly, with Watts starting alongside Jamaal Lascelles and Federico Fernandez in a back three as the 21-year old played the full 90 minutes.
Should Bruce start Watts this season?
Yes!
No!
Watts spent last season out on loan at Plymouth Argyle as he gained some valuable experience, racking up 50 appearances in all competitions, with 44 of those coming in League One, the joint-most of any outfielder at the club last season.
Ryder spoke highly of Watts after the Magpies’ defeat on Sunday and revealed the club have high hopes for the defender.
He said: “There’s always one that sort of breaks in – a couple of seasons ago, it was Matty Longstaff, before that, it was his brother Sean. There’s always one that gets that opportunity.
“It’d be nice if it was Kell Watts. I’ve watched him [for] a few years now coming through the Under-23s.
“He’s more than a centre-back, he can play at centre-mid or he can play a little bit further up the park as well.
“So he’s a player that Newcastle hold a lot of hopes for and he was on loan at Plymouth last season and that went well. [Against York] he barely put a foot wrong.”
TIF thoughts on Watts’ future…
Watts was handed his debut against Liverpool on the final day of the 2019/20 season after he returned to the club from a loan spell with Mansfield Town, but has not featured for the first team since.
With the news of Florian Lejeune set to leave the club on a permanent deal to Alaves, there could be a spot for Watts to stake a claim as a regular under Steve Bruce as he managed to keep Ciaran Clark out of the starting lineup in the first friendly of the new season.