Newcastle United star explains major difference between Rafa Benitez and Steve Bruce

Newcastle United star Sean Longstaff has expressed his gratitude towards former Magpies manager Rafa Benitez for handing him his first opportunity with his boyhood club.

Just over six years have passed since the academy product was rewarded for impressive performances during loan spells with Kilmarnock and Blackpool with a maiden first-team call-up in a League Cup tie with Nottingham Forest.  Longstaff made his Premier League debut two months later at Liverpool before scoring his first senior goal in an FA Cup third round replay win at Blackburn Rovers in January 2019.  The Geordie midfielder continued to shine under Benitez and earned serious praise from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for an eye-catching display in a 2-1 home win against his side just weeks after his Premier League bow.

However, a knee ligament injury brought a premature end to Longstaff’s first season within the first-team setup at St James Park and Benitez had departed by the time he made his return to competitive action in a 1-0 home defeat against Arsenal on the opening day of the following campaign. 

Speaking to Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer about his former manager, Longstaff told The Rest is Football podcast: “The thing about Rafa is he's obviously tactically so good and there's times where people sort of can criticise him for being a little bit defensive, but as a young player, I think in that system, it protects you so well because you sort of have help all around you. 

“There's times maybe when you might want the ball a bit more, you think you can be a bit more expansive, but in the end, it protects you really well.  The game seems quite simple and I'll always say about Rafa, I think he's amazing. His sessions always replicated the game and where you'd get the ball in the game and stuff.  He was quite funny as well. I think you look at him and people have a perception of him, but he actually loves a laugh and a joke as well.  Someone I'm really thankful to and still in contact now, a great guy and like I said, someone I'll always be really, really grateful for for giving me that opportunity.”

Longstaff endured a challenging time under Benitez’s successor Steve Bruce and seemed to be heading on his way out of St James Park as talks over a new contract failed to progress.  The Magpies midfielder admitted there was one key difference between the two managers - but stressed Bruce had a lot to deal with throughout a challenging reign on Tyneside.

He said: “Rafa is probably more on the training pitch, he wants to do every little detail and he wants to make sure every little things covered in terms of how the team's going to play on the Saturday.  Whereas Steve Bruce is probably different in terms of he wants you to just go and play and have fun and there's probably not as much structure, I would say. There's probably pros and cons to both. And yeah, I think it's hard sometimes, especially at Newcastle at the time, it wasn't like we're spending loads of money and you had all the best players around you.

“So I think they're both different, but they're both very good managers. You're going to have ups and downs with both, but obviously under Steve, I think it was a tough time for the club.  Obviously then you had COVID to deal with and yeah, there was like so many unknowns and things that you had to deal with for the first time.  So I think in the whole, we're in the league, you've done a good job.”