Recent reports from the Scottish Sun suggests that Celtic are monitoring the situation of Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff and Celtic’s scouts were present to see him in action against Southampton’s u-23 side. The 20-year-old midfielder has come up the ranks from the Magpies’ academy and was even on loan with Scottish outfit Kilmarnock in January in 2017. It is also believed that Manchester United scouts were also present in attendance and were keeping an eye on Longstaff.
This is not the first time that the 20-year-old midfielder has attracted eyeballs and even last year, he was on the watchlist of quite a few clubs. A significant reason why some clubs are after the midfielder is that his contract is set to come to an end next summer and so he could be available on a cut-price deal of £300,000 in January or for free, next summer.
Rodgers has been after a central midfielder in the transfer market as they missed out on signing John McGinn who went on to join Aston Villa. As a result, Youssouf Mulmbu was signed on a free a transfer, but the former Norwich City midfielder is more of a defensive midfielder, so Rodgers could still be in the market for a proper ball playing midfielder, and that is where someone like Longstaff comes in the picture.
The English midfielder stands at over six feet and looks comfortable and confident on the ball. He has the ability to pick out a pass or two and the Englishman often plays with his head up which is a good sign in a midfielder as it shows that he is always looking for his team-mates in the right position. The 20-year-old can spread out those 30-40 yards passes and diagonals and just for comparison in playing style; we would say he is in the same mould as someone like Michael Carrick.
While off the ball, he reads the situations well and gets into right positions to help his team out defensively. Longstaff was regular for Kilmarnock when he joined them on loan. However, he has just one first team appearance with Newcastle United. It very much seems like he would have to move away from his boyhood club to kickstart his career.
The Hoops have a strong midfield partnership in Olivier Ntcham and Scott Brown, but Longstaff could be a real long-term option for Rodgers as he is just 20 and has all the signs to be successful in the Scottish Premiership. It would be interesting to see when the Hoops will try to bring him, whether in January or the summer. But one can expect some competition from other clubs as well as Longstaff is immensely talented.
