After it was confirmed yesterday that Newcastle United are edging closer to confirming a new deal for Lewis Hall with an agreement now in place, there was a lot of speculation about what sort of clauses may be inserted and what they would tell us about his future.
There was a strong discourse from none other than Man United fans that pushed the 'release clause' narrative, with many believing there would be some sort set fee for the Red Devils to pay next summer, but Craig Hope has now confirmed that not to be the case.
Instead, Hall will sign a five-year deal with no release fees attached, leaving the Magpies in an excellent position when it comes to the England left-back's future (preempting Tuchel's upcoming squad announcement).
What it means for Newcastle United
There had been a lot of talk that Manchester United would be returning to the table next summer to try again for Hall, with talks of a possible release clause in his new contract giving some confidence that a deal may be more plausible than first thought.
But, with it now public information that that will not be the case, and a monstrous five-year deal being reported, it feels as though Hall may be preparing to stick around for a good while yet.
Now, even if Manchester United or any other clubs do try and prise the division's best left-back from our grasp, they are gonna have to pay a seriously hefty sum to even test the waters.
The abroad option
The option that I'm sure Newcastle fans will be hoping comes to fruition if we do sell Hall in the future is the one where he jets off to sunny Spain or, well, not so sunny Germany to join one of the world's footballing giants.
That's what happened with Gordon this summer and we all know that's a darn side better than watching the Brazilian midfielder pulling on an Arsenal shirt week-in, week-out.
But I don't say that because I'm buzzing about the idea of losing him to a club in Europe, I say that because losing him to a domestic rival is far less likely now, which is great because I actually think he'd be the most painful of the lot if he did stay in England.
Anyway, the point I'm making is that turning down offers from the vultures in England will be much easier with the extra years and improved financial terms and we now have the power to wait on an offer that genuinely benefits Newcastle United.
Can Newcastle actually keep Hall??
Let's not make it all pessimistic, though, shall we?
Five years is a LONG time in football and, whilst I'm not suggesting Hall would stick around for that full period if it wasn't going swimmingly, who is to say that we don't become an established Champions League competing team in that period, eh?
The truth is we don't really know exactly what the full plan is for 'Newcastle United 2.0'. The feeling is that we will see a lot of players come and go over the next few years, but some of them have got to stay, right?
So why not make that Hall, especially when he has clearly already committed himself to at least a couple of years with Matthias Jaissle at the helm.
We all know we have a generational talent on our hands and at some point he will want to push on and consistently challenge for the top honours in the footballing world, creating an environment where he can do that on Tyneside is decidedly difficult, but this new contract is at least one small step in the right direction, especially in terms of Hall's mindset.
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