Hayden’s pledge to Newcastle

Hayden submitted a formal transfer request in an attempt to engineer a departure from Tyneside last summer, citing a desire to move closer to his partner and young daughter as his motivation for wanting a move, but Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez rejected a number of offers for the midfielder.

With his family situation remaining unchanged, Hayden reiterated his desire to leave last month, but despite strong interest from Aston Villa in the closing stages of the transfer window, he was told he would be remaining at St James’ Park.

The 23-year-old has been one of Newcastle’s key performers in recent weeks, and having made his seventh Premier League start in a row in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Tottenham, has pledged to continue giving his all even though he remains keen to move on at the end of the campaign.

“This has been a difficult period,” said Hayden, who has formed an effective central-midfield partnership with youngster Sean Longstaff in the last month. “I’ve not really known whether I was going to be staying here for the second part of the season or whether I was going to be going, but as soon as you cross that white line, everything else doesn’t matter.

“You’ve got a job to do, and you always want to try to do your best and show what you’re capable of doing. It probably took me a couple of games to get back in my stride, but now I feel fit enough. I feel like I’ve had a good run of games, which is what you need, and I just hope I can help the team until the end of the season and keep giving 100 per cent.”

Newcastle return to action with a televised game at Wolves on Monday night, and Benitez is hoping to have Paul Dummett and Mo Diame available for the trip to Molineux.

Miguel Almiron’s work permit should also be confirmed in time for him to make his Magpies debut, with the record signing’s hearing having taken place yesterday.