While there are so many Newcastle United players who deserve plaudits aplenty for a stunning season, Sean Longstaff is worthy of a special mention.
The midfielder had struggled to match the hype upon his initial breakthrough as Newcastle toiled under Steve Bruce but has become a major part of the first-team under Eddie Howe.
A local lad to have come on leaps and bounds in such a short space of time, Longstaff has been one of the major success stories at the club this season.
Back in the team for the draw with Leicester to have sealed Champions League qualification, it was fantastic to see the 25-year-old as a leading figure in the celebrations.
Such has been the rapid-fire rebuild of his Newcastle career, Alan Shearer paid special mention to a fellow local hero.
What Shearer said about Sean Longstaff behind closed doors
In a letter to Howe penned in The Athletic, Shearer opened up on what he found himself saying about Longstaff to a friend recently.
Indeed, while in conversation during Longstaff’s recent absence through injury, Shearer remarked at how Newcastle were just not the same team without the midfielder.
“Thank you for the conversation I had the other day when I turned to a mate and said: “You know, we’re just not the same team without Sean Longstaff,” and then catching myself as I said it, an unimaginable sentence a couple of years ago and a forgotten footballer, now integral to everything good about Newcastle.”
Longstaff will take some ousting from the first-team
Given the ruthless nature of elite-level football, perhaps many outside Newcastle would expect a big-name signing to come into replace Longstaff, a fairly unfashionable name away from Tyneside.
Still, such has been his importance to the cause this season, it’s very difficult to imagine that happening.
Howe has constantly talked the midfielder up and frequently selects him alongside Joe Willock and Bruno Guimaraes in what has been the team’s strongest midfield trio.
Whoever comes into midfield this summer is going to find it very difficult to get in ahead of Longstaff.
What a success story.