Terry McPhillips makes surprise claim about Newcastle United's Elias Sorensen

Terry McPhillips has revealed why he left Elias Sorensen out of SIX successive Blackpool squads.
Elias Sorensen.Elias Sorensen.
Elias Sorensen.

The Newcastle United striker was yesterday recalled from his loan spell at Bloomfield Road after playing just 32 minutes of League One football.

McPhillips – who has injury concerns ahead of Saturday's game against Burton Albion – didn't want the 19-year-old to return to Tyneside.

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However, Blackpool's manager has claimed that Sorensen "didn't do enough" in training to persuade him to put him on the bench.

"I didn’t want him to leave," McPhilips told the Blackpool Gazette. “He hadn’t made the squads, but the day he leaves is the day after we get a few injuries.

“He’s been unlucky. When we signed him we had one of the strikers injured (Joe Dodoo) and we thought he would be out a bit longer than he was.

“But they’ve recalled him and that’s that, I’ve had no real conversation.

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“I did speak to the lad to wish him all the best. He’s a great kid, he's a good goalscorer, and we wish him well for the future.

“He can score a goal in training, but, in the end, I had a lot of players to leave off the bench, and he was getting left off regularly.

“He hasn’t had the opportunity he thought he was going to get, and that’s down to me really.

"But with the honest group of lads we’ve got, we say 'training counts', and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

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“There’s all different types of strikers, aren’t they? You can have your big hold-up one, you can have your fox in the box and ones that just score you goals, and I think Elias is a proven goalscorer in the Under-23s.

“It’s his first loan, but down at Squires Gate, we picked the other lads ahead of him because they’ve done better than him – in my opinion

“I’m not saying he did badly in training, he just didn’t do enough. He’s a great kid.”

Newcastle also yesterday recalled Callum Roberts and Jamie Sterry from their loans at Colchester United and Crewe Alexandra respectively.