OPINION
Newcastle United fans should be over the moon with a report which claims that Manchester United’s pursuit of Sean Longstaff has gone cold.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Newcastle’s £50million valuation of the 21-year-old has scared off the Red Devils, who have been unwilling to match the Magpies’ demands.
Man United have been linked with Longstaff for almost all of the summer with the Mirror reporting last month that the Premier League giants were plotting to make a £30million bid for the midfielder.
However it would seem as though Newcastle’s stance on their youth academy product has done the job and Longstaff looks set to remain at St James’ Park for the upcoming 2019/20 campaign.
Although Longstaff only made 13 appearances across all competitions in Rafa Benitez’s first-team last season, he was definitely one of the most impressive players for the Tyneside club.
He supplied an assist in the shock 2-1 win against eventual champions Manchester City in January before scoring his first Premier League goal in a 2-0 win over Burnley in February.
Unfortunately Longstaff’s season was cut short prematurely due to a knee injury, but in his few appearances, he definitely made his presence felt.
According to stats by WhoScored, Longstaff completed 80.9 per cent of his passes in the Premier League, which was only bettered at Newcastle by Ki Sung-yueng and Christian Atsu.
Longstaff also averaged 1.9 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 0.6 key passes.
Watching Longstaff play last season was not like watching someone who was making his first-ever Premier League appearances – it was more like watching someone who had been doing it for years.
And the fact that Longstaff is still just 21-years-old, means that Newcastle have a very good young player on their hands who will only go from strength to strength as his career progresses.
