It will be a disaster if Newcastle United allow local lad Matty Longstaff to leave for just £425,000 in a few weeks but England under-20 international Longstaff is weighing up a 5 year €35,000 per week contract offer from Italian club Udinese with his £850 per week contract up in a matter of days on Tyneside. As we stand right now all the signs seem to suggest he is on his way out of Tyneside and the fact he was not in the squad to play Middlesbrough recently further added fuel to the fire.
So let’s look at this in more detail.
The first thing is to say that this isn’t Inter Milan or Marseille circling blowing us out of the water, the other teams linked to his name, it’s a team who have not finished higher than 12th in the Italian top flight Serie A since 2012, and have never won the competition in their history. Surely it doesn’t make sense? It’s not really a journey that’s well travelled but has worked for other young British midfielders in recent times to move abroad and would it be the making of him as the talent is certainly there.
Then would Matty really swap the North East of England for the North East of Italy and the black and white stripes of Newcastle for the similar kit at Udinese, or is this a smoke screen for a cheap move to Watford to play the compensation game and maximise his earning potential? The lifestyle has been mooted but really I can’t see it and I can’t see him putting lifestyle above family and his love for Newcastle United so if a move is to come Watford seems far more likely.
For me I believe this has the fingerprints of Lee Charnley all over it. The man who has overseen so much misery and decay on Tyneside. A case of looking to save a few peanuts in the short term and pulling on his emotional connection to our, to his club but it looks like Matty and his new advisors are having non of it. Lets hope this is not a sign of things to come with Sean if the current ownership continues in its short term views.
For someone 'of my generation' I remember all too well when we did this before and I can’t believe we are repeating the same mistakes of the past when stars like Gazza, Carrick, Beardsley and Shearer were allowed to leave.
Surely a wage less than what Jack Colback is receiving for a few more weeks shouldn’t be an issue for a Premier League Newcastle United who recently posted £34million yearly profits?
Lee Clark speaking on the situation has said:
"He's a local lad and a very, very talented player. He has shown outstanding promise in the few games he has played and the club is based on a tradition where the local players are the heartbeat of the football club. The fans have took to him and his brother Sean and if they want to lose one of those for whatever reason it'll be a disastrous move.”
Lee Clark certainly feels the writing is on the wall but suggests ultimately in this game of chess he will end up a lot more closer to home than Italy:
"I personally think he is going to end up at Watford, with the Pozzo family connection. It is a way of not paying Newcastle a big transfer/compensation fee from one Premier League club to another. Matty can take a few months out, possibly a year at Udinese and then he will end up at Watford. For Newcastle it is a bad decision. Let's get it right. For a young player who hasn't played a lot of games it is a big outlay. But you give him a long-term contract and he becomes the player that everyone thinks he is going to be off his initial displays, which is an outstanding top level Premier League player and potential future international. You've got a top player on your hands."
And he is not the only one. Yes Matty hasn’t played many games but he is only 19 years old and has not put a foot wrong so far. Graeme Souness is also a fan, speaking after his debut dream goal against Manchester United he spoke in glowing terms:
"He’s a clean striker of the ball. He belonged out there and he looked confident from the first touch of the ball. Over the 90 minutes, do debuts get better than that?"
I was worried about Matty back in January when we signed Bentaleb, who I saw as stifling his progress, but now I am now 99% the coaching staff and money men at St James Park have done the bare minimum in order just to pacify the fan base by saying we tried, and are far happier with cheap loan deals but trying Lee is not good enough and we see the games you play!
