It won't just be Geordies and overseas talents who will have a big say on Newcastle United's future. Something is stirring in the south and the Magpies know it. A whopping 14% of the Premier League’s English-born players came from just ten square miles of south London as recently as 2020 and Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has gone as far to say that the area is in the 'top two or three hotbeds for football in the world'.
You can see why Newcastle want a presence in the capital and beyond, and few know the region better than Delroy Ebanks, who looks set to take up a position as a talent spotter down south for the club after serving as West Ham's head of youth recruitment. For all the money Newcastle spend on new signings in 2023, this could prove a crucial addition behind the scenes if the words of Colchester United current sporting director Dmitri Halajko are anything to go by. Halajko worked with Ebanks as West Ham's reserve team boss and described his former colleague as 'one of the top guys around in the south'.
"Del was one of those people where you would always trust his judgement," he told ChronicleLive. "If he said there was a good player at a certain club or out of a club that he wanted to bring in, you wouldn't feel you had to question it or look at that player yourself. You always knew when they came into training they would be at the level."
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These are very different clubs, of course, but there are parallels between Newcastle's situation and the challenges Ebanks encountered at West Ham in a way. The south is so competitive for scouts and there are clubs with even bigger budgets who are even higher in the table so Newcastle, like West Ham, will have to sell a dream.
Ebanks has experience of doing just that and West Ham were able to show players, their representatives and families that the Hammers had a longstanding pathway as the 'academy of football' when given permission to speak to targets. One such agent who dealt with Ebanks at West Ham told ChronicleLive that the scout was a 'top professional who knows how to identify top talent'.
Newcastle have clearly taken note as the Magpies invest in their scouting network and attempt to save millions in the long run to continue to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations. Indeed, as much as Ebanks was the head of youth recruitment at West Ham - managing and overseeing operations to make sure everything was 'strategically aligned' - he also put the hours in himself on the road. Robert Flanagan, who identified talent in Ireland and Northern Ireland for West Ham, told ChronicleLive that Ebanks was 'very dedicated' and worked 'even on his days off'.
When it comes to that work ethic, Ebanks and his colleagues would produce a minimum of five reports on players, watching games back on WyScout before filing each individual dossier, and they were not afraid to look beyond the most talented individuals if they did not have the right character. In fact, Ebanks would get to a stadium at least 45 minutes early to watch the warm-up to make sure a target was taking it seriously. Ebanks would then go on to fill out a so-called 'player passport' so that the club's coaches knew everything about the individual - from the school he attended to his hobbies - as Halajko remembered.
"Del's attention to detail is great," he added. "He's also good at personal stuff. He would always be someone who would give you a call and let you know about it personally.
"He wouldn't just be sending through dossiers on players, which is part and parcel of it. He would give you a call and let you know a few little hints and tips about the player.
"He would also look after the player once they were in as well. He wouldn't just leave them - he would help settle them in. When the players were maybe struggling or unsettled, he would make it his business to try and do what he could to help."
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