REPORT: Sean Longstaff to extend contract, stay at Newcastle until 2026

The Times is reporting a contract extension is in the works for Newcastle United’s academy graduate Sean Longstaff. The new deal will last until the summer of 2026 when Longstaff will be about to turn 29 years old (in October) after having spent nearly 10 years on Tyneside.

The Longstaff saga has been a long one with the first news about this deal getting offered to the player popping up more than three weeks ago back at the start of May. The same media outlet reported a four-year deal had been put on the table for Longstaff to take if he wanted to extend his stay in Newcastle. That seems now to be the case, with Longstaff about to agree to the deal.

Longstaff has spent all of his career—barring a couple of loan spells away—on Newcastle upon Tyne since he entered the youth ranks as an 11-year-old boy. Longstaff has become a steady presence in Eddie Howe’s lineups, and he’s appeared in 24 games for the Toon this season playing 1,464 Premier League minutes and starting 15 of those matches including the last four of the season against Norwich City, Manchester City, Arsenal, and Burnley.

If this extension comes to reality, it’ll mark the second deal signed by a Newcastle player to remain a Magpie after Fabian Schar did so a few weeks ago. Newcastle is, obviously, expected to bring external reinforcements throughout the summer in advance of next season aiming at a run to qualify for European football. Even then, it’s quite pleasing to see long-tenured Toon lifers getting extensions and remaining at the core of this new, organically-growing project under the new regime.

With this sorted out, the next most-pressing move would probably be deciding on what to do with Aston Villa’s loanee Matt Targett, who should be getting back to the Villain organization in a few days as his loan to Newcastle is set to expire by the end of May. Newcastle have the right to make it a permanent move by paying £15M to Aston Villa but Eddie Howe has yet to sit with the player to try and arrive at the best decision for both parties.