'Welcome home' - MLS midfielder Matty Longstaff spotted training back in Newcastle
Former Newcastle United midfielder Matty Longstaff has been back on Tyneside.
Matty Longstaff has returned to Newcastle for some off-season training following the conclusion of the 2025 MLS season.
Longstaff left Newcastle United as a free agent in 2023 after suffering a serious knee injury while on loan at Colchester United. He signed for MLS side Toronto FC the following year and went on to score three goals in 57 appearances for the club.
He recently joined another Canadian MLS side, CF Montréal, where he made a further eight appearances before the end of the 2025 campaign.
Matty Longstaff back in Newcastle
Upon returning to Tyneside during the off-season, Longstaff joined up with NE Coaching Co at Cochrane Park in Newcastle.
NE Coaching Co have worked with many academy players and senior professionals, including Longstaff and former Newcastle midfielder Jonjo Shelvey.
On NE Coaching Co’s Instagram, photos of Longstaff training at Cochrane Park were shared along with the caption: “Absolute pleasure to have Matty Longstaff back with us for another off-season training programme. A change of club since the last time we saw him, but the energy levels haven’t changed one bit. Welcome home, Matty. Time to put in the work.”
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Matty Longstaff at NUFC
Longstaff is the younger brother of Newcastle’s Carabao Cup winning midfielder Sean Longstaff, who left the club to join Leeds United in July.
He progressed through Newcastle’s academy and broke into the first-team in 2019, scoring a memorable winning goal on his Premier League debut against Manchester United at just 19 years old. He scored again in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford in December but The Magpies lost that game 3-1.
But Longstaff’s time playing with the first-team proved to be largely fleeting after scoring three goals in 15 appearances during his breakthrough season only to add a further five appearances the following season. His final two seasons at the club were spent out on loan at Aberdeen, Mansfield Town and Colchester United.
Although he was released by Newcastle in 2023, the club continued to support the midfielder in his recovery from injury.
But Longstaff admitted that his future at Newcastle was over the moment the club were taken over in October 2021.
“As a fan, I was buzzing,” he told The Athletic. “You just have to look at where they are now and where they can go, that made me so happy.
“But I wasn’t stupid, I was thinking, ‘That’s me done at Newcastle, I need to move on’.”
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After his release, Longstaff was allowed to use Newcastle’s facilities to work on his injury recovery. Former sporting director Dan Ashworth even offered to help Longstaff earn his coaching badges and work within the academy.
“Dan Ashworth said to me: ‘You’ve helped get this place to where it is. We’ll always remember what you’ve done and we’re going to look after you. It doesn’t matter how long it takes’,” Longstaff added.
“The manager [Eddie Howe] rang and said: ‘You’re such a positive person around the place. Keep being you, keep being positive, because it lifts the mood. Don’t feel for one minute that you don’t deserve to be here. The lads love you’.”
Now 25, the two time Premier League goalscorer is now enjoying life and playing regularly in Canada.
“I have always wanted to go abroad and once I knew my career was done at Newcastle, I thought, ‘I want to try something different’,” he continued.