‘LONGSTAFF LADS MIGHT HAVE TO Luke who’s the daddy now

HERO Toon star Matty Longstaff enjoys his winner against United

BY IAN MURTAGH

EXCLUSIVE

BROTHERS Sean and Matty Longstaff have been told they might have to quit Newcastle to save their careers.

The warning comes from Alan Thompson, cousin of their father David, who has watched the pair grow up and play for their hometown club.

Thompson, 47, a former England international, can speak from experience because when he was 20, the same age as Matty, he left Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle in search of regular football. Newcastle face Manchester United at Old Trafford this evening with the siblings likely to be on the bench, neither having started a game since mid-January.

What a contrast from last season when Matty scored his first Toon goal as the Magpies beat United at St James’ Park, then struck in the return fixture.

Thompson said: “I spoke to their dad, and there’s no doubt they are frustrated.

“I know what they are like

BY SIMON MULLOCK

LUKE SHAW’S renaissance at Manchester United is down to sheer hard work – and becoming a dad.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reckons the left-back could win an England recall after producing his best form since arriving in a £30million deal from Southampton in 2014. The Old

Trafford chief insists the credit must go to Shaw, 25, and the responsibility he started to feel after son, Reign London, was born in November 2019.

Solskjaer said: “Luke has shown real dedication and I think that maybe becoming a dad has helped him big-time.”

MIKEL ARTETA knows the comparisons between him and his mentor Pep Guardiola will last for as long as he’s a football manager.

But the Arsenal boss (left) also knows any comparisons are unfair because there is no symmetry whatsoever between the situations that the two are in. Guardiola, 11 years Arteta’s senior, was handed the reins at Barcelona after a short but successful spell in charge of the Catalan club’s B team.

He inherited a stable of thoroughbreds at the Nou Camp with Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol chief among them. Guardiola helped that stellar group hit the