Sky Sports pundit Danny Higginbotham has been left raving over the talents of Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff after the youngster’s rise into the first team under Rafael Benitez.
The homegrown ace has established himself as a mainstay in the Magpies’ starting XI after being drafted in due to a lack of other options, the Geordie joined by Isaac Hayden in forming a formidable partnership in the centre of the pitch.
Speaking of the youth graduate, Higginbotham insisted he was looking like a player born for the Premier League and that he is operating above and beyond his years.
He told Sky Sports news (28/02, 12:48): “He’s adored already, got his first Premier League goal. He had some really good loan spells and there was a lot of talk in the summer of him going back out on loan again.
“I think because Isaac Hayden, at the time he wanted to leave, and the fact Longstaff has a really good pre-season Benitez said no, you’re going to stay with us. It was definitely the correct decision, the right decision.
“He looks right at home in that midfield now. What I like about him is his intelligence. He will sit in front of the back but he has the chance to go forward as well at times but it’s his positioning that he takes up, it’s well above his years, his maturity and he’s just taken to the Premier League so easily.”
Opinion
Longstaff really has taken not only the opposition fans but the Newcastle faithful by surprise this season, with very few expecting him to make the sort of impact he has done. As Higginbotham says, the Magpies starlet has taken to the English top flight like a fish to water and when you consider the teams he has come up against, with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham the opposition in some of his first games in the starting XI, he has had a baptism of fire. His performances have seen him outshine some of Newcastle’s biggest names among the squad and if he continues like he has then there is no chance of him returning his place in the starting XI to the likes of Jonjo Shelvey and Mohamed Diame. There have not been many names to break through the youth system at Newcastle and so Longstaff’s emergence is a rare sight for the fans – and how they are loving it.