Rising Toon star Longstaff on loan to Rangers last summer

conversation he held with Rangers manager Steven Gerrard about Longstaff as ‘proof’ of how highly he rated him.

“Sometimes, you get no indication,” Benitez told the Athletic when discussing which of his previous players he thought were destined to become a coach.

“Harry Kewell was a really good player who was unlucky with injuries but he didn’t talk about games very much or about football in general, and I would not have said he felt like an obvious choice to be a manager.

“With others, you could just see it. Sami Hyypia and Xabi Alonso, for example, would ask us about football and tactics and talk about our training sessions and things like that.

“Stevie was somewhere in between but, from the outside, he looks to be doing a good job. In terms of the team he has picked to develop himself, I can’t say too much except that Rangers are a top side in Scotland and I’m sure it will be a great experience for him.

“We have kept in touch. We have had contact to talk football and to talk about players. In fact, in the summer of last year, Stevie called me about Sean Longstaff. Rangers were interested and he asked whether they could sign him on loan, but I told him ‘no’ – he’d be staying at Newcastle.

“Some people have said, ‘Oh, Rafa was lucky because of Longstaff’ but we’d been watching him and we were happy with him, we played him in the first team, supported him and gave him confidence. Turning Rangers down is proof of what we thought of Sean.” IT’S back to a 3pm Saturday kick-off for the Magpies after the international break – several players were called up but the majority will have enjoyed the rest.

With Matt Ritchie and Florian Lejeune the only players out through injury, and with Isaac Hayden still to complete his three-match ban, it appears that Steve Bruce has a healthy squad to pick from.

Stamford Bridge awaits for a Newcastle side whose confidence must be in the ascendancy following on from their home win last time out, remembering that their previous visit to the capital produced three points and a 1-0 victory at Tottenham. A repeat of that scoreline may be worth a look and is available at 12/1.

Is the manager taking a leaf out of Frank Lampard’s book in giving the youngsters a run-out?

It certainly proved the correct decision a fortnight ago with him being unable to separate the Longstaff brothers in midfield, and William Hill can’t separate them in the goalscorer stakes either, with the siblings both priced up at 22/1 to bag the first.

Miguel Almiron continues to put in a shift on the pitch and just needs a goal. Anyone sticking faithfully with the Paraguayan midfielder can back him at 18/1 to notch the first goal of the game or 6/1 to make the net bulge at any time.

The Blues have won their last four games in all competitions, scoring 15, but have conceded in all but one of their 12 in all competitions to date.

I am going to go with my heart and look at Newcastle taking an early lead then putting up a resolute defensive stance by backing the away win at half time and away win at full time on offer at 14/1.

vUNITED to pick up a point at 9/2