JUST STICK AROUND A WHILE LONGER, SEAN
UNITED LEGEND LEE’S WORDS OF ADVICE FOR MIDFIELD MAN AS AGENT EYES BIG-MONEY MOVE
IF Sean Longstaff wants to earn a move away from Newcastle United he has to earn it.
That is the verdict of Magpies’ legend Rob Lee who believes Longstaff has not done nearly enough to earn a move to Tottenham, as has been mooted.
Longstaff hooked up with ‘ Super Agent’ Pini Zahavi earlier this month and reports suggested the 77-year-old told those close to the United midfielder he could arrange a move to Tottenham for him..
The 23-year-old is out of contract at Newcastle at the end of next season and although there is talk of Zahavi being able to ‘manufacture’ a way out of the club for him, The Chronicle understands Longstaff has no intention of leaving the club.
However, Lee believes talk of Longstaff’s future is an unwelcome distraction and has urged him to concentrate on performing for Newcastle.
He said: “I am very cynical when it comes to these sorts of things.
“I am sure Longstaff is potentially a topclass player.
“He has come in and done very, very well. Don’t listen to people saying they can get you here and get your there.
“Get your head down and play football - you are playing for the club you love. You are young. All those other things will come to you.”
Lee added: “Players have to realise actually it is not the agent who gets them the move, it is the player who gets the move.
”If he plays badly I don’t care who the agent is, if he plays terribly and he starts playing badly then no one is getting him a move.
“So it is up to him who is agent is, it is up to him who he wants to go with - but at the moment Sean Longstaff should stay and play for Newcastle.
“If he wants to move later in his career when he has done really well then fine.
“It just seems to me young players break into a team and all of a sudden somebody wants to move on and cash in.
“I don’t mean the clubs, and I don’t mean the player - I mean agents.” Longstaff’s emergence in the second half of the 2018/19 season saw him linked with a big-money move to Manchester United. Despite winning his place back in the Magpies’ side in recent weeks, however, he has not quite matched those heights in the last 18 months.