Sky Sports have given some clarity on Tuesday afternoon regarding the situation Matty Longstaff finds himself in.
Newcastle United having allowed a situation to develop whereby the Geordie midfielder is set to be out of contract at the end of the month, when any club can sign him and pay only around £400,000 development compensation.
Matty Longstaff is still on only £850 a week as Mike Ashley refused to increase the midfielder’s wages in the meantime.
Sky Sports now revealing that Serie A club Udinese have an offer on the table of £30,000 a week to tempt the younger Longstaff brother to join them.
Keith Downie covers Newcastle United for Sky Sports and he says that before virus lockdown, Matty Longstaff flew to Italy for talks with Udinese and they offered a five year deal, worth over £7.5m over the course of the contract.
in response, the Sky Sports man says that Mike Ashley has offered the 20 year old less than half of what the Italian club have offered.
At the end of March Sky Sports reported (see below) that the Longstaff brothers had changed agents in the hope that would help bring about decent contract offers that were acceptable BUT at the time, most Newcastle fans instead still saw Mike Ashley as the biggest obstacle, expecting the brothers to take below market rate contracts simply because they are local lads who support the club.
Sky Sports – 25 March 2020:
Newcastle brothers Sean and Matty Longstaff are in the process of changing agents in a bid to sort out their futures.
The midfield duo’s Newcastle careers are in doubt, particularly that of younger sibling Matty, who is out of contract in the summer and free to talk to clubs on the continent.
The 19-year-old made a match-winning debut for the club against Manchester United in October, before following it up with a goal in the reverse fixture at Old Trafford on Boxing Day.
Manager Steve Bruce has said he hopes the midfielder makes a football decision over a financial one, but although talks have taken place for months there is no current concrete offer on the table for the teenager.
And now both Matty and Sean have taken steps to switch representative in a bid to resolve their futures – whether that is at Newcastle or elsewhere.’
