The 20-year-old had been one of Newcastle United's star performers before - on the advice of a specialist - undergoing surgery in March, meaning he missed the Magpies' Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool as well as the final 11 league matches of a term which ultimately saw Eddie Howe's side qualify for the Champions League.

He was initially on crutches and then a protective boot, but has spent much of the summer working with the club's medical staff at the training ground and this week he has been running outside, with the expectation being that he will resume light ball work over the next few days.

"It's just gradually progressing," Hall told newcastleunited.com. "I've just done 12 weeks non-weight bearing, which is obviously a long time, so to go from that to what I'm doing now is really good.

"With the amount of time I was hobbling about before, it takes a while to get used to again but I feel like I'm getting there now. It's just about building slowly."

Hall had surgery to repair a broken bone in his foot four months ago, curtailing a campaign which saw him make 34 appearances in all competitions and win full international honours.

But he explained: "As soon as I was back here, got the cast off and the stitches out, I was straight in the (altitude) chamber, sitting down and getting my heart rate up with just my arms - every evening, my arms were dead! - and then slowly started to integrate using my feet and my legs again.

"Because I've been doing a lot of aerobic stuff in the chamber, what I'm doing now isn't going to cause me to fatigue. It's just about slowly, gradually, increasing the load. Now, mentally, it feels good to be outside. Some of the other lads are out doing pre-season programmes and whatever so it's good when I'm training and seeing them as well. It feels like I'm properly around it again."

Hall admitted that the psychological impact of being unable to feature in the final few matches of an historic 2024/25 was every bit as painful as the injury which saw him go under the knife in the first place.

"The first few weeks especially were incredibly hard, with the final and stuff like that," he added. "I played in all the games beforehand, and to miss that final; I was obviously buzzing for the club, for everyone, but to not be there to celebrate... it's not so much that I wasn't on the pitch, but to not be there to celebrate, that was probably the lowest point I've had in a long time. I was sat at home watching. That was difficult."

The defender's parents, Colin and Laura, and brother, Connor, were at Wembley to see the club end their long wait for silverware - "I know how much my dad loves the club," said Hall. "He was adamant that he didn't want to go to the final but I said to him 'you haven't seen your club win a trophy before; even though I'm not playing, I want to you to go'" - but Hall was unable to travel to the capital as he recovered from his operation.

"You have good and bad days," he reflected. "Some days you feel really positive and then other days, on a matchday for example, I'll be there watching and I feel like I'm missing out. There's so many different things that come into it, so to be back outside and know that I can see the end of the road is such a good feeling."

Next season kicks off on Saturday, 16th August, with United away to Aston Villa. Hall still has a lot of work to do before he returns to competitive action but he is hoping to resume full training towards the end of pre-season, and to be in contention for the opening fixtures of the new campaign.

"With any injury, especially a long-term one, it's so up in the air," he said. "Some people can come back quicker, some people take a bit longer. It all depends on how everything goes.

"For me, my aim is to be fit and ready to go for the first game of the season, but to do that, I'd like to have a few pre-season games as well beforehand."

Hall has had messages from Howe and his staff - a "nice feeling" - while physios Alix Ronaldson and Nathan Ring and rehabilitation conditioning coach Sean Miller have worked particularly closely with Hall during his recovery, along with head of physiotherapy Sean Beech and club doctor Paul Catterson.

"All of the medical department have come together and had this plan for me, and they all help in different ways," he said. "Alix and Nathan are the ones day to day who have to deal with me when maybe I'm not in a good mood or whatever, so they're probably the ones that I feel most grateful for, and Sean as well, because I work with them every day.

"And a lot of the lads have tried to make me feel as part of the team as possible. I'll use Jam (Lascelles) as an example of that. Jam has been every day, even though he's back training, asking me how I am, him and Sven (Botman). Those two in particular have been keeping in contact every day, asking how I'm feeling and showing interest in what I'm doing. Little things like that go a long way, don't they?."

Despite the heartache of missing the Carabao Cup final, Hall has no doubt that going under the knife to repair the injury to a bone in his foot, rather that attempting to play through the pain barrier last term, was the correct course of action.

"One hundred per cent," he insisted. "In terms of my career, how I'm anticipating it to go, the things that I want to achieve, to play in that final would have been a massive risk which ultimately could have impacted this season a lot as well.

"It was definitely the right decision in terms of security and making sure that I come back fit and firing for this season. As gutted as I was - and I think I underestimated how I would feel - it was definitely the right decision."

He added: "There are so many things to look forward to, like Champions League, international stuff hopefully, and just the fact that I've not played in so long.

"It's hard to explain - I felt so much support from people at the club, but in a sense you almost feel like sometimes you get forgotten about a little bit, even though I only missed 11 league games.

"But it makes me want to come back and sort of prove a point again, and show everyone what I can bring back to the team. I want to show people what I was doing before I was injured and, if anything, come back a better, stronger player for it.

"I can't wait."