Steve Bruce hints at recall for Newcastle United player

Longstaff was named as a substitute for last weekend's game against Norwich City.

The midfielder, recovery from a serious knee injury, came off the bench and set up Jonjo Shelvey's goal in a 3-1 defeat for Bruce's side at Carrow Road.

Head coach Bruce said: “Is he ready to start again? Well, certainly last week, I just detected that he was a little bit ginger with his knee, which is understandable.

“He's been out for the best part of five months, and the one thing I needed to do was just try to protect him a little bit and have a conversation with him to say 'look, it's normal that sometimes you might have to miss a day or two', just to make sure he was ready.

“But certainly when he came on against Norwich last week, he had an immediate influence on the team, and we were much better when he was in there.

“My job is to make sure that he's right, he's 100%. He's only a young lad making his way, and, of course, he's had a dramatic rise quickly.

“Always my job is to protect a young player, especially when he's had an injury. The kid has had his first injury to deal with, and it's a nasty one, to be out for five months.

“I only arrived four or five weeks ago, and his first competitive game, really, was the West Ham game in pre-season."