Club ‘aims to have region’s top academy’
LEE Charnley says Newcastle United want to have the “best academy in the region” as Matty Longstaff and Sean Longstaff dominate the headlines.
Charnley was speaking to The Athletic about the club’s academy after Longstaff scored a superb winning goal against Manchester United at St James’ Park, saying that the clubs want to fill the system full of boys from the local area who “will get chances”.
“You hear people talking about footballers being mercenaries. These are two boys who desperately want to play for their home-town club,” he said.
“To see Sean do it last year and Matty get his opportunity – and he looked like it was his 25th or 50th game, not his first – was so pleasing for everyone. We’ve seen the public reaction.
“We want to be the best academy in the region. Our vision is we want local boys to look at it and think it’s not going to be full of boys from London, Manchester or abroad. Between nine and 16, it will be an academy with boys predominantly from the local area. There will be exceptions but generally it will be local.
“Other clubs may move boys around the country, sign them at 12, 13, 14, move their education. We’re not doing that. Consciously, we have made a decision not to do that and to give local boys the opportunity.”
United faced accusations from former manager Rafa Benitez that they did not want to invest in the academy. But Charnley says that it’s not about the club saving money.
He said: “It’s a conscious decision to get local boys because we want local boys to see what’s happened with Paul, Sean and Matty, and say that’s who they want to be.
“They’ll know, if they’re good enough and work hard enough, they’ll get an opportunity at their home-town club. That’s what we want.”
Charnley also said that the younger Longstaff brother should act as an inspiration to others in the Academy.
“I know Matty’s a player Steve has been toying [with the idea of] giving an opportunity to. I know how well he’s been training,” he said.
“The best judge of a player is often another player and when the other players talked about Matty and Sean, the feedback from them and Steve on Matty was: ‘He’s ready.’ The challenge is, can they keep up a consistent level of performance?”