Steve Bruce believes Lee Charnley will go “all out” to secure both Matty Longstaff and Sean Longstaff to new deals – also confirming that transfer talks will begin in the ‘next few weeks’ ahead of the January window.
Speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s fixture with Chelsea, Bruce discussed the Geordie duo’s contracts,, with Matty’s needing to be renewed if he’s to stay beyond the end of the season.
When asked about current contract talks, Bruce told the media that those issues are handled by managing director Lee Charnley. It hardly fills you with confidence, but the NUFC boss seems confident both deals will be agreed:
Here is what Bruce had to say:
“It’s going to be above me.
“Lee (Charnley) will be on to that, I am sure we will be all out to get that tied up, and his brother, which is vitally important.
“The one thing you don’t want to do is lose your top young players.”
Older brother Sean is rumoured to be stalling on agreeing on a new deal. He still has time on his contract, which runs until 2022, but he must be rewarded for his rise to first-team level – especially when Manchester United still appear to be seriously interested.
On the subject of transfer, Bruce then had this to say when asked about the fast-approaching January window:
“I haven’t really spoken about the January window yet as I haven’t seen all of what I’ve got here quite yet.
“Always January is a difficult, difficult window, but we’ll start planning for it in the next couple of weeks”
“We’ll see what’s out there.”
To be fair to Bruce, we are only in October and there’s several first-team players he’s not seen much of.
Dwight Gayle returned to full fitness for the first time during the week, Yedlin hasn’t long been back and Matty Longstaff is still a relatively unknown quantity.
That said, we are seriously lacking goals up front and should look to recruit a goalscorer in the window to take the pressure of both Joelinton and a misfiring Miguel Almiron.
