Matthew Ben Longstaff (born 21 March 2000) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is currently a free agent, having most recently played for

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Club career

Newcastle United

Longstaff made his first-team debut for

on 28 August 2019, starting against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. He scored in the 72nd minute of his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

debut, in a 1–0 win against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

on 6 October. The stunning strike outside the box was later voted as

Premier League Goal of the Month The Premier League Goal of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player who is deemed to have scored the best Premier League goal each month of the season from August to April. The winner is chosen by a combination of ...

. He then went on to score in the reverse fixture at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, the opening goal in a 4–1 defeat. Following the expiration of his contract at the end of the 2019–20 season, Longstaff signed a new two-year contract with Newcastle United on 22 August 2020. In announcing their retained list for the 2023/24 season, Newcastle United released Longstaff at the end of his current contract. However, the club will continue to ensure he receives treatment on his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

injury, which Longstaff suffered in December 2022.

Aberdeen (loan)

On 27 August 2021, Longstaff joined Scottish club

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on a season-long loan. On 26 December 2021, Longstaff was recalled early by his parent club

, having only featured five times for

Mansfield Town (loan)

On 31 January 2022, Longstaff joined

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

on loan for the remainder of the season.

Colchester United (loan)

On 1 September 2022, Longstaff joined

side

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on a short-term loan. He returned to Newcastle on 1 January 2023 following a knee injury.

International career

On 8 November 2019, Longstaff received his first international call up to the

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s), represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in En ...

side. He made his debut as a substitute during a 4–0 win over Portugal on 14 November 2019.

Personal life

Longstaff was born in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

, South Yorkshire and raised in

North Shields North Shields () is a town in the Borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear, England. It is north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne and borders nearby Wallsend and Tynemouth. Since 1974, it has been in the North Tyneside borough of Tyne and Wea ...

, Tyne and Wear. Longstaff went to school at

John Spence Community High School John Spence Community High School (formerly Preston High School) is a co-educational secondary school located in Preston (near North Shields) in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a foundation school administered by North Tyneside Council. John Spe ...

. Longstaff was a boyhood Newcastle United supporter and his older brother

Sean Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...

is also a footballer for Newcastle United. Their father

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

is a former Great Britain

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

player, who featured over 100 times for the national side, and is still active as coach for the

Whitley Warriors Whitley Warriors are an ice hockey team based in Whitley Bay in the north east of England. Founded in 1957 as the Bees, they changed their name to Whitley Warriors in 1964. Warriors played at the highest level of British ice hockey for much of ...

. David is the cousin of former England international Alan Thompson. They are not related to former Newcastle academy player

Luis Longstaff Luis James Longstaff (born 24 February 2001) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Championship side Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Career Longstaff made his professional debut for Liverpool on 17 December 2019, startin ...

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

: October 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longstaff, Matty 2000 births Living people Footballers from Rotherham Footballers from North Shields English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Newcastle United F.C. players Premier League players England men's youth international footballers Aberdeen F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players