'I want' - Newcastle United star has already hinted at being open to Leeds United move

Eddie Howe has already admitted Sean Longstaff’s future at Newcastle United is unclear amid reports Leeds United are considering a summer move.

The Geordie midfielder has fallen down the pecking order this campaign, having last started a Premier League game in December. Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton have established themselves as Howe’s preferred midfield three, while Longstaff also has competition from Joe Willock and Lewis Miley.

Longstaff started 40 in all competition last season, compared to this season’s 12. Only two of those have come in 2025 against Bromley and Birmingham City in the FA Cup, while his appearances as a substitute have also become less frequent.

The 27-year-old has been linked with a move to Leeds before but those links have resurfaced following their promotion back to the Premier League. According to the iPaper, Longstaff is a “potential target”.

Eddie Howe has already addressed Sean Longstaff’s future at Newcastle United

Earlier this month, Howe was asked about Longstaff’s future at Newcastle, to which he gave a candid response.

“His role is to be ready to play, ready to come on and I have trusted him in big games where he has come on and played his part in those wins,” said the United head coach. “We are going to need the whole squad in our league season. We have nine massive games to come and everybody has to be ready.

“His long-term future is slightly more unclear. But what I can say is that behind the scenes, Sean has been very good, helping the group, training to a high level and I can't speak highly enough of him as a person.”

Longstaff’s contract was due to expire this summer but Newcastle triggered an option to extend until June 2026 in what was a strategic move to protect an asset and prevent him from walking away for free.

Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) ‘incentive’

In a world of Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR), selling academy prospects carry greater monetary value as they generate “pure profit”.

However, it is not something Howe necessarily agrees with after being forced to sell Elliot Anderson last summer in order to avoid breaching PSR.

“I think I’ve said before I don’t understand that rationale - why we’re in a position that you’re incentivised to sell academy products,” Howe said previously. “I don’t necessarily think they started with that intention of forcing teams to make those decisions.

“So for us to put all the work into Elliot, the academy, the coaches, the time, to then see him leave and now flourish for another Premier League club isn’t something I think we should be in a position to do.

“It should be more of a level field, you can sell players and have the same effect that it was with Elliot. Of course it was all profit for us, his sale, that’s why we were incentivised to sell him.”

What Sean Longstaff has said about his Newcastle United future

Longstaff joined the Magpies’ academy aged nine and via loan spells at Kilmarnock and Blackpool broke into the first-team during the 2018-19 season. He has enjoyed some memorable night for his boyhood club, scoring twice in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Southampton, as well as netting in United’s 4-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

The North Shields-born midfielder was, of course, part of the squad that ended the club’s 70-year wait for a domestic trophy but even he suggested he might have to leave.

Addressing his future last November, Longstaff said: “If it’s here it’s great. If it’s not, it’s not. I want to be valued as a player, I want to be appreciated as a player and whether it’s here great. If it’s not here and it’s somewhere else, it’ll be somewhere else.

“In a way I live day to day, game to game and I just try and take in every game. I get to go to work every day and spend it with my best friends, I don’t know what’s coming ahead, I don’t know what’s coming down the line, I just try to embrace every day and enjoy every minute because ultimately it won’t last forever.”

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