Newcastle United have 'high hopes' for 17y/o forward after new contract

Newcastle United Under-21s lead coach Robbie Stockdale has admitted the Magpies have ‘high hopes’ for young forward Alfie Seldon after he caught the eye once again in Friday night’s Premier League Cup win against Peterborough United.

The 17-year-old penned his first professional contract at St James Park during the summer before impressing for the Under-21s during their pre-season campaign. The versatile winger’s form has continued into the competitive action after he scored five goals and provided two assists in his first six appearances in the Under-18s Premier League before bagging his first ever Under-21s goal in a National League Cup defeat against Solihull Moors earlier this month.

Seldon produced a lively display on Friday as goals from Johnny Emerson and 16-year-old midfielder Jayden Kouossu helped Stockdale’s side to a 2-0 win against their Peterborough counterparts - and the Magpies academy coach admitted he has been impressed with what he has witnessed from the versatile winger.

He told The Gazette: “Alfie is another young player we have high hopes for. He can play anywhere across the front three positions, he’s a really intelligent player, makes really good decisions on the pitch. The fact we are prepared to play them in the Under-21s at such a young age shows we think a lot of them. Again, his position on the pitch has a lot of competition but we’ve not shied away from playing him at Bradford City and places like that so if they are good enough and they warrant a place in the team, I’ll play them, I don’t care what age they are.”

Performance

Stockdale opted to make six changes to his starting lineup in the aftermath of Monday’s dramatic Tyne-Wear derby win against Sunderland - and that led to a first-half performance against the Posh that he described as ‘sketchy’. However, the Magpies coach was pleased with the reaction of his players after the restart as they made it six points from two games in the Premier League Cup.

He said: “I thought the performance in the first-half was a bit sketchy - but it was a team that we made a fair few changes in so it always takes a bit of time to gel and players to get up to speed that probably haven’t played as many minutes as the other boys. Also, we try not to dwell on what happened on Monday, but that was such a high for the players and it’s back to the reality of Whitley Park on a Friday night so that might have been a challenge. I actually thought after we spoke at half-time, tweaked a couple of little bits, I thought second-half we were good.”

Stockdale’s side will now turn their focus towards another cup competition as they prepare to travel to League Two side Rotherham United in their latest EFL Trophy game. A positive result against the Millers would take the Magpies youngsters into the knockout rounds of the competition for the first time since the 2018/19 season when their run came to an end with a last-16 defeat against Sunderland’s first team.

Your next Newcastle United read: Matthias Jaissle delivers brutally honest Newcastle United warning - this makes total sense