Report: Newcastle 24-year-old has refused to sign a new contract, now he's set to leave this summer

By Sam Preston

Sean Longstaff is set to leave Newcastle United after refusing a new contract due to a lack of gametime on Tyneside.

The Telegraph report that the 24-year-old has been offered a fresh deal with his current one set to expire at the end of the season.

But he is looking more and more likely to leave as a free agent because he wants to play more regularly somewhere else.

The same report says that Newcastle will not be signing Jesse Lingard due to issues over his wage demands, which would have made him the club’s highest paid player.

Longstaff is set to leave Newcastle

Their report reads: “Newcastle are willing to listen to offers for most of the fringe members of their squad.

“The likes of Matt Ritchie, Ciaran Clark, Karl Darlow, Federico Fernandez, Isaac Hayden, Jeff Hendrick and Dwight Gayle are all able to leave if they can find another club.

“Midfielder Sean Longstaff could also be off as he will be out of contract at the end of the season.

“The 24-year-old has so far refused to sign a new contract offer because he wants to play more regularly than he has done this season.”

It seems that Newcastle want Longstaff to be a squad player as they embark on their new era but he wants to play regular football, and he was linked with Everton in January when Rafa Benitez was their manager.

Fair play to him, because the chances are he’d be in line for a pay rise if he signed a new deal under the new regime.

It remains to be seen how many of the mentioned fringe players go out the exit door.

One good thing about having mega-rich owners is it creates less of an imperative to sell unwanted players for high prices, but Newcastle also do not want to lose players for far less than their market value or get a reputation as a soft touch in the market.