In July, Sean Longstaff completed a permanent move to Leeds United, ending his 19-year career with boyhood club Newcastle United.
The midfielder’s departure meant the end of an era on Tyneside. One of the best graduates from the club’s academy had moved on after almost two decades.
Sean Longstaff will always be remembered as a midfielder who withstood the test of time at Newcastle United. A local lad who knew what it meant to wear the black and white stripes with pride and play for the badge, unlike others who have shown their true colours this summer.
Newcastle signed Jacob Ramsey soon after Longstaff departed, with the 24-year-old making his debut in the thrilling 3-2 defeat to Liverpool on Monday evening. In the meantime, Longstaff has settled into his new surroundings, although he missed a penalty on his first start for Leeds in the Carabao Cup.
Longstaff will be in line to start against Newcastle on Saturday, but in a recent interview, he shared who made him burst into tears during his emotional farewell.
- Who is Sean Longstaff? The homegrown Carabao Cup winner who departed Newcastle United
Sean Longstaff shares who made him cry during Newcastle United farewell
Head coach Eddie Howe admitted he did not want to sell Longstaff, but the luxuries of a PSR boost were far too appealing for the Magpies.
In the end, Longstaff joined Leeds for £15m, a deal which represents pure profit for Newcastle due to his academy roots. However, it does not make his exit any less emotional.
Nick Pope was in tears during his goodbye speech to Longstaff, and in an interview with The Times, the 27-year-old revealed how Newcastle coach Stephen Purches made him burst into tears.
“I was trying my best not to get upset and then I spoke to Stephen Purches, who is like the midfielder coach,” he said.
“I was really close to him, and he looked at me and I burst out crying. It was a whole host of emotions.”
Longstaff had received a call about the deal while doing a quiz with his teammates in Austria. Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes accused the midfielder of cheating for being on the phone, but it was a lot more than that in reality.
Sean Longstaff’s ode to his former Newcastle United teammates after Leeds move
While Newcastle are making the trip to Elland Road on Saturday, fans will have to wait until January to see their former midfielder make his emotional return to St James’ Park.
The move made sense to Longstaff; he had been reduced to a squad player at Newcastle and was only being given rare substitute appearances in the Premier League. Still, he can hold his head high knowing that he did all he could for the club and played his part in their historic Carabao Cup win in March.
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It was revealed that Longstaff was in the hotel reception in Austria while word of a deal being agreed with Leeds spread to social media. That started a flood of players getting the chance to say their goodbyes.
“The lift kept pinging,” he said.
“It will be one of my best memories, the lift pinging and everyone coming out of it, one after the other. It started off with four of us and by the end of the night it was probably a group of 15 people, just laughing. They were gutted.
“You never really know how people perceive you, or what people actually think of you, and at that moment I did. It felt like I was going off to war. It didn’t feel like I was going an hour and 20 minutes down the road to play football.”
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