Alan Shearer has revealed his thoughts on Matty Longstaff’s potential Newcastle United exit – and they may surprise a few Newcastle United fans.
Some are frustrated that the club have not matched a reported ‘£30,000-per-week offer’ from Udinese and may have expected Shearer to take a pop at the current regime for failing to convince the 20-year-old talent, however he’s gone the other way.
Shearer believes our reported proposal (said to be around £20,000-per-week) is a “very good offer”, with him urging the local lad to sign at St James’ Park and ignore a move to Italy – fearing the latter could backfire.
Financial gain aside, he also feels the offer makes sense for footballing reasons, reminding young Matty that he was out of the first-team equation just a matter of months ago.
Here’s what he told The Sun:
‘I’m struggling to get my head around Matty Longstaff’s situation at Newcastle.
If he leaves at the end of his contract it will be a great shame because he’s a local boy and you don’t know what’s around the corner with the looming takeover.
For someone who has started just six league games, it would be a huge gamble to move to Udinese and I really hope it doesn’t backfire for him.
If the figures we’re hearing are correct then Newcastle have put a very good offer on the table.
I understand their stance because you’ve got a 20-year-old who has not played much and wasn’t even in the equation at the beginning of the season.
They feel they’ve offered him a lot of money, with increases going up and up each year, which he or his agent clearly doesn’t think is enough.
And if Longstaff has already agreed to move, there’s little more they can do.”
I’m sure there is more behind it than we may know but it’s a big risk for a local boy to leave the area and his football club for a team in Italy that could be relegated.
The Pozzo family own both Udinese and Watford, so I have seen that he could eventually end up there — but even so, it’s difficult to understand.
Longstaff must have his individual reasons as to why he is choosing to leave his club.
If he sees himself down the pecking order then it’s up to him to make himself first choice.
If you’ve got the belief in your ability then you will turn that around and you will eventually become a regular starter.
There’s still a little bit of hope he will stay but it’s sounding increasingly unlikely now – and what a shame both for Longstaff and Newcastle United.’
Not for the first time, Shearer has got it spot on here for me.
I initially felt frustrated that a struggling Serie A team had blown our offer out of the water for such a promising Academy product of our own, however the more I think about it, the more I realise our offer is indeed a “very good” one for a player who’s only made a handful of appearances in senior football!
Perhaps Matty fears for his game time at Newcastle and worries a takeover could see him fall further down the pecking order, but to move for the money so early in his career could be a big mistake.
