Newcastle United set to trigger deal for 27-year-old after major Eddie Howe hint
Newcastle United are set to extend Sean Longstaff’s contract - but uncertainty remains around the midfielder’s long-term future at St James’ Park.
Longstaff’s current contract - a three-year deal signed back in 2022 - expires at the end of the season. But Newcastle are set to exercise an extension option that can keep him tied down for another year, until 2026.
The midfielder has enjoyed a successful return to the starting line-up with two wins from two matches against Chelsea and Arsenal in quick succession at St James’ Park. Now Newcastle travel to Nottingham Forest on Sunday (2pm kick-off), looking to pick up only their second away win of the season.
Newcastle have several players out of contract at the end of the season, including the likes of Callum Wilson, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth.
And head coach Eddie Howe has already stressed the importance of avoiding players leaving on free transfers, particularly with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules to contend with. As an academy graduate, having Longstaff under contract and with a monetary value will be important to Newcastle moving forward.
“Losing players to free transfers is not something we want to be fighting as a football club for many different reasons,” Howe told The Gazette. “Probably the biggest reason for that is that it's a distraction for the players and in my experience, players don’t tend to play well when they start to run their contract down into that last year, it's a very uncertain time for them.
“We want players at their best but we want to protect the asset value of the individual player as well. To replace any player that is in and around our squad is going to cost us a lot of money so we've got to be very careful with those decisions.”
A report from Mail Online claims that Newcastle will trigger Longstaff’s extension in December. The midfielder was asked about his future following Saturday’s 1-0 win over Arsenal given his contract situation but gave little away.
“If [my future] is here it’s great, if it’s not, it’s not,” he said about the prospect of staying at Newcastle.
“I want to be valued as a player, I want to be appreciated as a player and whether it’s here great. If it’s not here and it’s somewhere else, it’ll be somewhere else.
“In a way I live day to day, game to game and I just try and take in every game. I get to go to work every day and spend it with my best friends, I don’t know what’s coming ahead, I don’t know what’s coming down the line, I just try to embrace every day and enjoy every minute because ultimately it won’t last forever.”