Newcastle United midfielder Matty Longstaff could be given his debut by Steve Bruce later this evening.
Longstaff has impressed enough in Newcastle training and over pre-season that Bruce is considering handing the youngster his debut this evening.
Newcastle are due to take on Leicester City in the Carabao Cup later, and Longstaff could be given the nod by Bruce.
But the Magpies boss admits that he was in the dark about the youngster’s talents until he turned up at St. James’ Park.
“I didn’t know anything about him until four weeks ago, to be honest,” Bruce said.
“I saw this bright red face running around China – I thought it was going to burst! I thought, ‘is he alright?’ He’s the way I went when you’re red like that in the heat!
“The two of them absolutely have to have factor 50 on. He’s got bounds of enthusiasm. We’ve seen a little bit of him – scored that great goal against St Etienne when he came on. He’s impressed me enormously over the last four, five weeks. He’s been training with us all the time so I think it could be a good time to give him his debut.”
If Longstaff is handed his debut for Newcastle, he could follow in his brother, Sean’s, footsteps.
Sean broke into Newcastle’s team last season and quickly has established himself as a key player.
Matty is younger than Sean so expectations may have to be tempered, but over pre-season he certainly didn’t look overawed.
Bruce has promised that Newcastle will take the cups seriously under his stewardship, as he wants to lead them to silverware.
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