Newcastle United midfielder issues injury update

The midfielder suffered what has been described as a “serious” knee injury playing for loan club Colchester United on Boxing Day.

Longstaff is in the final year of his contract at Newcastle, and the 22-year-old, in an Instagram post, said it was “hard to find the words” to describe his emotions.

"Hard to find the words,” said Longstaff. “Absolutely gutted to find out I’m gonna be out for a long period with a knee injury. Would just like to thank everyone at @colu_official for my time there.”

Longstaff – who is in the final year of his Newcastle contract – has had his injury assessed on Tyneside.

“Matty’s been in for a couple of days to get his knee assessed and checked. It does look like it’s potentially a difficult injury for him,” said United head coach Eddie Howe. "He’s going to have scans, and the extent will be revealed, but it doesn’t look good for him at the moment.”

Howe says the club will “nurse” Longstaff – who made a stunning first-team breakthrough at United in the 2019/20 season – back to fitness.

“He’s a brilliant lad,” said Howe. “We really, really like him as a person. It’s a very difficult time when you’re contract’s coming up to get a potentially long-term injury is a real difficult one for him, but we’ll support him as a team, as a club, and make sure we fully nurse him back to full fitness.”

Longstaff’s elder brother Sean has been a fixture in Howe’s Newcastle side in recent months.