His brother may be the one getting all the headlines, but Newcastle United youngster Matty Longstaff was the name on most Toon fans’ lips after an impressive cameo in today’s 1-0 win over West Ham.
The 19-year old is Sean Longstaff’s younger brother, and also plays in a centre-midfield position for the Toon.
But while Sean shot to superstardom last season, Matty remained in the u23’s side.
This season he will be looking to follow in his brother’s footsteps and was one of the many u23 players to travel with the squad on their pre-season trip to Asia.
The younger Longstaff came on for the final ten minutes in today’s Premier League Asia Trophy match, and impressed fans with his effort.
The u23’s star put in a tremendous shift, winning the ball back plenty of times as well as making some intelligent runs forward.
He appeared to be more of a ball winner than his brother, and spent much of his cameo pressing and hassling The Hammers.
Newcastle fans liked what they saw though, as hard working players are always celebrated on Tyneside.
The youngster is clearly looking to impress, and will be hoping to have a shot at the first team under Steve Bruce.
But does he have enough experience?
Is first-team realistic for Matty Longstaff?
There have been plenty of EFL clubs interested in a loan move for the midfielder in the past few months, but some Newcastle fans will now want to see him in black and white next season.
Bruce is still currently working out his best squad, and Matty is likely to feature in a few more pre-season friendlies before the season begins.
However so far his appearances have been limited to second-half run outs and it’s uncertain how he’d perform over 90 minutes.
A loan move would probably serve him better this season, but he may yet still impress Bruce in the coming weeks.
Newcastle fans would certainly like to see more though, and have been showering the youngster with praise after his Asia tour displays.
Newcastle fans react to Matty Longstaff cameo
https://twitter.com/mttwlsh_/status/1152549866796736513
https://twitter.com/RoryPBull/status/1152532445453070337
https://twitter.com/CallumKelly_98/status/1152569231583666177
https://twitter.com/Michael_EJones/status/1152532046444580865
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