Longstaff flattered by Manchester United interest

Sean Longstaff has admitted to being flattered by interest from Manchester United following a whirlwind rise to prominence at Newcastle United.

The 21-year-old midfielder broke into the first team at St James’ Park in January and made nine promising Premier League appearances before a serious knee injury ended his breakthrough campaign.

Manchester United took note and are reportedly weighing up whether to meet Newcastle’s lofty transfer demands.

For his part, midfielder Longstaff is content just to enjoy the ride as he sets out to impress new Magpies head coach Steve Bruce.

“If somebody had said to me a year ago I would be in this position, I would probably have laughed at them,” Longstaff told the Chronicle.

“This time last year I was deciding whether to go to League One on loan. A year on, you are seeing your name linked with one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“For me, it is all a positive really. It gives you even more confidence. When I was in [the team] for a short amount of time people took notice of me. It is flattering but my job is at Newcastle.

“The new boss is coming in and it’s a clean slate for everybody – including me.”

21y 119d – Aged 21 years and 119 days, Sean Longstaff is the youngest player to score for Newcastle in the Premier League since Rolando Aarons in May 2016 (20y 181d v Spurs). Talent. pic.twitter.com/3dinaQSG9e

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 26, 2019

Manchester United have signed Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James since the end of last season and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made no secret of his desire to add further reinforcements.

Longstaff and Leicester City centre-back Harry Maguire are reported to rank highly on the Norwegian’s wish-list.

“As I’ve said and answered a few times, we’re working on one or two cases,” Solskjaer said in Singapore, where the Red Devils are preparing for an International Champions Cup clash against Inter.

“But obviously my objective now when I’m here is to get ready for the games and training sessions.

“We’re working on putting a squad together that can compete. Of course we have some youngsters but we have loads of players that can play and loads of ways we can play.”