Steve Bruce tells Sean Longstaff to ignore £40m Newcastle exit rumours

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Steve Bruce has told £40m Manchester United target Sean Longstaff to ignore the speculation and improve his form. As reported by The Mirror, Bruce has told Longstaff to forget contracts, transfer rumours and injuries to focus on lifting Newcastle United out of a slump.

Longstaff’s form has been underwhelming this season after he burst onto the scene last season. The homegrown Newcastle star was one of the key players under Rafa Benitez before suffering a long-term knee injury.

Despite his injury, Longstaff was the subject of transfer speculation in the summer. The 21-year-old has been linked with a £40m move to Man United (as per The Daily Star).

But Bruce wants Longstaff to focus on his game. Ahead of today’s clash with Man United, Bruce has addressed the transfer rumours. Newcastle are second from bottom going into this game and Bruce wants a response from his midfielder.

Bruce: ‘Forget Man United’

Bruce said (via The Mirror): “I think Sean now needs to concentrate on his own performances, rather than worrying about speculation and tittle-tattle. I don’t think there was any real legs in the Manchester United story.

Whether there was interest, I’ve never really asked the question. Distracted? You are a young lad, so you are going to be. He’s got to learn to put that aside and just get on with the job in hand, which is playing for us.

“I do believe he signed a new contract last Christmas. There is no problem there contract-wise. The thing for him now is to forget about contracts, forget his knee injury, forget Man United – it’s all about getting back to playing like we know he is capable.”

TBR’s view