Blackpool manager reveals why he has benched Newcastle United's Elias Sorensen

Newcastle United loaned Sorensen to the League One club last month.

Rafa Benitez wanted Sorensen to be tested in the EFL after a blistering few months up front for United's Under-23s.

However, Sorensen has only played 32 minutes of football so far for Blackpool, where he is behind Armand Gnanduillet and Chris Long in the pecking order.

And the 19-year-old didn't even make the bench for last weekend's game against Charlton Athletic.

“There was no issue," Blackpool manager Terry McPhillips told the Blackpool Gazette.

“Some good players have missed out on squads. I think the week before Chris Taylor and Michael Nottingham missed out.

"If we get a couple of players back, I’ll have the same problem this weekend, so I don’t know who will miss out, but someone will have to.

“It’s not the nice part of the job, but it is part of the job."

McPhillips says he is in regular contact with Ben Dawson, Newcastle's Under-23 coach.

"I speak to the Newcastle Under-23 coach, who I know anyway and he’s sound as a pound," said McPhillips.

"I tell him where Elias is up to. They’ve had a couple of welfare officers here today to meet us and to watch the training, which they’ve done.”