It was a weekend to remember for Trevan Sanusi, as the 17-year-old came on for his competitive debut in Newcastle’s FA Cup win over Bromley on Sunday.

Sanusi has been a standout performer at youth level this season, being touted as “generating the most excitement” out of the Magpies’ youth prospects, and it feels likely he will be a regular in the first team moving forward.

The teenager has went from strength to strength this season after scoring an incredible goal for England U18s in September, and Eddie Howe has told the winger how he must continue to develop if his upwards trajectory will continue.

Howe issues Sanusi challenge

Speaking to the media following Sunday’s win, Howe praised Sanusi for his impressive performance and evidently liked what he saw from the 17-year-old, but has told him what he must improve if he is to become a regular in the first team.

“This (his debut) will be a big moment for him. I’d love to see him get some more opportunities, but that will be dependent, of course, on how the players are playing within the squad.

“He has a nice way of riding tackles, he’s got really good balance, but like most young players, there’s stuff to improve. His end product needs to get better, so we’ll continue to work with him on that.”

Howe then revealed that Sanusi hasn’t been training regularly with the first-team, but got his chance against Bromley after a few “strong” performances for the U21s.

“Tre hasn’t been consistently training with us,” Howe said. “This season, I’d say he’s been mainly with the (Under) 23s. But I’ve been watching those games, of course, and getting regular feedback from the coaches there.

“He had a really good pre-season with us and then went back, and then I think he’s come on strong again in recent weeks and is doing well.”

He did enough on his debut to make his presence felt and give a glimpse into what he can offer moving forward, though it would be uncharacteristic of Howe to rush him through the ranks he has proven to those within the youth set-up there is a pathway to the first team.

Big talent but plenty of room to grow

There were elements of Allan Saint-Maximin to Sanusi’s performance against Bromley. He showed himself to be a quick and tricky winger, though he was easily bullied off the ball a few times.

Needless to say Sanusi will develop physically naturally with age regardless but he must put the work in in the gym to accelerate his development, his final ball needs work too as pointed out by Howe.

Overall though Sanusi should have a bright future, hopefully in black-and-white, and it’s exciting to see our academy signings over recent seasons already begin to pay dividends – it’s clearly a key part of the plan for our project.