Midfielder leaves Newcastle United's training ground after agreeing two-year contract

Matty Longstaff has signed a two-year contract with MLS side FC Toronto - eight months after his release from Newcastle United.

The 23-year-old's St James' Park departure was confirmed in June but in the months after remained at the club's Benton training ground as he completed his recovery from an ACL injury sustained on Boxing Day 2022 during a loan spell at League Two side Colchester United.

Speaking to NewcastleWorld about his rehabilitation in December, Longstaff said: “I came on for the last ten minutes of a game, tried to turn and I just felt a pop. I knew as soon as I heard that pop I had done my ACL. They had a lad did the same injury in the first-half and I said on the bench you could tell it was bad - but I didn’t know that would happen to me seventy minutes later.

“The biggest thing you learn in football is that 70 or 80 percent of the game is mental. It’s probably stuff people don’t see because they turn up on a matchday and judge you on 90 minutes. But, as a player, you have everything in training, preparing properly, dealing with the ups and down."

Having battled back to full fitness, Longstaff has made the switch across the pond and penned a two-year contract through 2025 with an option for 2026.

“I can’t thank Newcastle enough for what they’ve done," Longstaff said previously. "Everything I have needed, they’ve been there for me and I’ve been working with the physio Alex throughout. She’s been unbelievable and I’m very lucky with the way the manager and Dan Ashworth have dealt with me.

“They’ve allowed me to be around the building all of the time, they speak to me every day and keep me involved in everything. That shows the sort of people that are around the football club now, it’s not just about football with them, they’re about the human side of things too. They’ve been with me every step of the way.”

Longstaff made 20 first-team appearances for Newcastle and scored three goals, his most memorable being his winning strike against Manchester United on his Premier League debut in 2019. He penned a new contract at the end of the following season but saw his game time heavily restricted by then head coach Steve Bruce.