In 1998, Solano became the first professional Peru-born footballer to play in England when he signed a contract with Newcastle United for £2,480,000. Interest in his first appearance on the field in the black and white shirt for Newcastle reserves was so substantial that the kick off was delayed to accommodate the large crowd, many of whom had been delayed after a lorry had shed its load blocking one of the major routes into the city. Solano marked the occasion with a goal. His first team debut for Newcastle came in a Premier League match against Chelsea on 22 August 1998, when he came on after 67 minutes as a substitute for goalscorer Andreas Andersson. In June 2001, he signed a new five-year contract with the club. A month later he scored what he later described as "the best goal of [his] career" with a solo effort against 1860 München. During this first spell at Newcastle, he played in the 1999 FA Cup Final.