Lee Charnley outlines his 'vision' for Newcastle United's Academy

Matty Longstaff scored on his Premier League debut last weekend.

The 19-year-old, playing alongside his elder brother Sean, has been the talk of the Toon since his strike gave the club a 1-0 win over Manchester United.

And Charnley, United’s managing director, has spoken about the club’s Academy on the back of the goal, which took Newcastle out of the relegation zone.

“To see Sean do it last year and Matty get his opportunity – and he looked like it was his 25th or 50th game, not his first – was so pleasing for everyone,” Charnley told The Athletic.

“I think it was fantastic, and we’ve seen the public reaction, not just the Newcastle public. I saw what Gary Neville tweeted after the game.

“We want to be the best academy in the region. Our vision is we want local boys to look at it and think it’s not going to be full of boys from London, Manchester or abroad. Between nine and 16, it will be an academy with boys predominantly from the local area. There will be exceptions, but, generally, it will be local.

“People say it might be because of this reason (not wanting to spend money), but it’s not. It’s a conscious decision to get local boys, because we want local boys to see what’s happened with Paul (Dummett), Sean and Matty, and say that’s who they want to be.

“They’ll know, if they’re good enough and work hard enough, they’ll get an opportunity at their hometown club.”