Hands Off Our Longstaff: Manchester United Interested in Newcastle Starlet

Ever since his fairly strong Premier League debut against Liverpool, Newcastle starlet Sean Longstaff has won the hearts of fans, as well as manager Rafa Benitez, and has cemented himself as a key piece going forward for the club.

Longstaff’s strong start, which club have resulted in an England cap if his season was not cut short, has also peaked the interest of other clubs including Liverpool, Everton and most recently Manchester United.

Sky Sports were the first to report that Manchester United were interested in Longstaff, and since the report has surfaced it has been confirmed that Newcastle have no intention to sell the player.

Longstaff is another player that follows the new approach to transfers Manchester United are taking which involves building a strong team with young domestic talent. Manchester United have already been heavily linked to promising talent like 21 year old Chrystal Palace fullback Aaron Wan-Bissaka as well as the young, pacey, Swansea winger Daniel James. This is a much different approach to the team with an average squad age of nearly 28 and who recently signed the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Nemanja Matic, Fred, and Romelu Lukaku.

This rumor is a bit strange just due to the lack of Premier League experience Longstaff has. In all fairness the lad has looked brilliant against some of the best clubs in the Premier League like Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham, but that alone is not a good enough reason to shell out millions of pounds for a potential first team player. Of course £20million is chump change to a club with the financial resources of Manchester United, but even that is enough for a player who only appeared in 9 matches.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

It is unlikely that even if Newcastle let Longstaff leave that he would actually leave. Sean is a local boy, who has just achieved his dream of playing first team football for his hometown club. It is doubtful that he would throw away the opportunity to be one of the next leaders of his boyhood club to ride the bench at Manchester United.

Some credit is due to Newcastle for wisely not cashing in on their top youth prospect early in his career. The hope is that Longstaff says with the club forever, but with Ashley at the helm its more likely he is sold for a ton of profit as he enters his prime.

Would you love to see Longstaff at Newcastle forever, or should we sell him when his value is highest? Let us know in the comments below.