Newcastle United have tied Sean Longstaff down to a new contract.
Newcastle United boss Rafael Benitez has told the club’s official website that he is ‘really pleased’ to see midfielder Sean Longstaff sign a new deal with the club.
Benitez hasn’t exactly been known for giving chances to young players over the course of his career, preferring to lean on experienced players, but Longstaff has at least featured this season.
The young midfielder has come up through the ranks with Newcastle, and made his first-team debut earlier this season in the Carabao Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest in August.
Longstaff, 21, hasn’t been pushed into more first-team football though, and has instead been thriving with the Newcastle Under-23’s, starring under Ben Dawson this term.
Fans want to see him given more first-team opportunities, and he may have more chances of that having signed a new contract until the summer of 2022 earlier today.
Longstaff would have been out of contract at the end of the season, meaning Newcastle were in danger of losing him, but he now has the next three-and-a-half years to really push for first-team stardom.
Now, Benitez has admitted that he is really happy with the deal, praising Longstaff as having the talent to become a really good player, highlighting his huge potential whilst believing that Newcastle will appreciate a local lad thriving.
“I’m really pleased with the extension because we have seen from the first training session that Sean is a young lad with great potential,” said Benitez. “He is keen to learn, he is a hard worker and he has the quality and the talent to become a good player. I’m sure our fans will appreciate seeing that from a local lad,” he added.
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