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New York Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Sean Longstaff interview: ‘Leeds have a similar feeling to when Newcastle got taken over'
Raphinha's impact at Leeds United is still playing a part in the club's transfer business three years after his final game for the club. While the Brazilian's trajectory from Portugal and France through Elland Road to Barcelona and now Ballon d'Or contention is pointed out to compatriot Igor Paixao by fans on social media as he is linked with a move from Dutch side Feyenoord, one specific game and memory of Raphinha stands out for Sean Longstaff. Advertisement The Newcastle United academy graduate has only played at Elland Road in front of fans once. It was the night in January 2022 when he replaced an injured Joelinton before half-time, the night Jonjo Shelvey sealed a smash-and-grab away win for Eddie Howe's visitors with a 75th-minute free kick. 'One of the big things I remember from the day is, Raphinha was still there, every time he got the ball, you could feel the buzz of the whole stadium,' Longstaff tells The Athletic. 'As an away player, even if we felt OK in the game, you're subconsciously thinking, 'Are we not OK here?'. 'I just remember the whole atmosphere. I started on the bench. I remember warming up — you take in a bit more; you look around, and every time they go forward, you think they're going to score just because of the buzz of the crowd.' That's a buzz Longstaff, 27, cannot wait to experience as a home player in less than a month when Everton arrive, under the lights, for both sides' 2025-26 season opener on Monday, August 18. That Shelvey-inspired win was considered one of the foundational moments in Howe's rebuild of the club after its takeover. More than three years later, Longstaff is wearing a Leeds training kit as he speaks to The Athletic at the team's pre-season training camp in Germany. As he mulled over the Yorkshire side's advances towards him this summer, he was reminded of how those early weeks of optimism felt after Newcastle's takeover in 2021. Longstaff finished last season and went to team-mate Jacob Murphy's wedding in France in early June. Having grown up in nearby North Shields, he was still deliberating on leaving the club that had been his whole life. Then he went to visit brother Matty, a former Newcastle midfielder himself, in Toronto, where he now plays for the Canadian city's MLS side. While there, he spoke on the phone with the Leeds hierarchy about a transfer. 'It was the whole thing, really. From saying it's so similar to Newcastle in terms of it's a one-club city, the fanbases are so passionate, but it's also what they're building and then how good the squad is already — hopefully what they can add to it,' says Longstaff. Advertisement 'I've seen the videos of the (post-promotion) parade, and the plan for a new stadium. I got a lot of similar feelings to when Newcastle got taken over (in 2021). Sometimes the best time to be at a club is at the start of it all, and you can build with it, you can see the progress and hopefully all the little wins along the way.' The American side of their ownership bore fruit for Leeds, too. Longstaff's father, David, is a UK ice-hockey legend who played more than 100 times for Great Britain during a career that took him and the family around the world. His eldest son, inevitably, loves ice hockey too, but has built a love for all American sports. Larry Nance, a high-profile NBA basketball player who is in the club's ownership group, had actually crossed paths with Longstaff years before. It was an NHL hockey player, though, who properly turned the midfielder's head once the deal was signed. 'He (Nance) messaged me the other day, which was cool,' he says. 'He came to a Newcastle game when DeAndre Yedlin (the USMNT international) was still there. They knew each other. I hadn't really played much at the time, so I was a bit nervous. 'I walked past him with my head down, not knowing, whatever it was, six years later, I was going to sign for a team he's invested in. He just welcomed me and said he was really excited to have me here. 'It was really nice of him, and I remember when I signed and they showed me all the investors, there was Erik Johnson (who won the NHL title with Colorado Avalanche in 2022). My eyes were drawn to the ice hockey player who invested, and that was so cool.' Sports other than football seem to dominate our interview. There is no avoiding this summer's clip of Longstaff taking a wicket when bowling for Tynemouth Cricket Club. He's played for them since he was 11 and uses it as an escape from the world of professional football. Advertisement He has a warning for West Yorkshire cricket sides hopeful of recruiting him for their 2026 summer campaigns. 'I've played there since I was 11,' he says. 'It's always a place I can go back to and no one really looks at you and says, 'It's Sean Longstaff, the footballer'. They say, 'It's Sean Longstaff, the 11-year-old kid who's a bit of a pain sometimes'. I always tried to hide it, to be honest, but as I've got older, there are a few more people taking videos. Now it's like everyone knows it. That's not ideal. 'When I left, all the lads from the cricket club were really happy (for me). They were reminding me I've left Newcastle, but I've not left Tynemouth Cricket Club.' Moving away from home was never going to be easy for Longstaff, and nobody should have expected it to be. His football world was built around St James' Park, and making 214 appearances for his boyhood club is a feat he would have never dreamt of as a child. He says it was unexpectedly emotional departing Newcastle's training camp in Austria to complete his Leeds move. Team-mates Jamaal Lascelles and Nick Pope addressed the entire squad with leaving messages that left them unable to hold back the tears. Dan Burn, one of Longstaff's best friends in football, was another, he says, who was wiping his eyes at the back of the room. Happy as they are for Longstaff to have this new challenge with better prospects of regular minutes, they will miss him. The emotions of that send-off tie in with the mental health aspect of the game, which Longstaff has become associated with. Anyone who has read about him will be familiar with the breakdown he had in front of his father in October 2020 and the subsequent help he sought from a psychologist. It changed his life and will remain a big part of his career, even after this move to West Yorkshire. Advertisement 'It's one of those things I've tried to be open with because it's such a massive topic,' he says. 'Dan Burn was the same. I had loads of good conversations with him. 'I still speak to a psychologist pretty much every day when we're back home and even just for 20 seconds on the phone, whether it's a routine or whatever. It's the same thing with the cricket. You do it because football can be so pressurised, you sometimes need a release, to get away, do things you enjoy and that relax you. I've always found it quite therapeutic being around your friends, but also still being in a competitive environment. 'Football is very up and down. There are times when you feel amazing and times when you feel awful. It's been a massive help to me and probably something I'll do until I retire.' The links back to Newcastle will always be a cornerstone of Longstaff's career. He's even had a post-transfer message from their former manager Rafa Benitez, who congratulated him on taking the leap away from Tyneside. Leeds backup goalkeeper Karl Darlow, of course, knows both clubs very well, having made the same move in summer 2023. 'When I first heard of the interest, he was the first person I texted, and you expect a bit of a response, but I got a five-minute voice note on why I should come (laughs),' Longstaff says. 'It's weird because I remember being an 18 or 19-year-old kid at Newcastle, going into a dressing room and being so scared. 'Karl was one of the senior figures in that dressing room. I've had some amazing trips with Karl. He's watched me grow up, in a way, and gone from being a kid to becoming a dad. He said the other week, 'I didn't realise you were a dad'. I try to keep that as private as possible. 'He's someone I can rely on. It probably helps that he's so well respected within the group, because everyone speaks to him, I'm always there, so you feel a part of the conversation. He's been really good to me so far.' Advertisement Longstaff describes Darlow as a safety blanket for these opening weeks with a new club. Although manager Daniel Farke has methods of bedding all the squad's arrivals in with each other, away from cliques. While captain Ethan Ampadu, Newcastle link Darlow and everyone's best friend Alex Cairns have been fixtures of Longstaff's first week, fellow summer signing Gabriel Gudmundsson has also been someone he has spoken a lot to. The pair were placed next to each other at a meal as part of Farke's seating plan, where the German manager alternates a British player, then a foreign one, then a Brit and so on, around the tables — no cliques, no comfort zones. The all-important Farke phone call is a big step in any Leeds transfer chase. Longstaff says their chat played a big part in his final yes-or-no choice on this move. 'One of the big things when I was deciding whether to come or not. You don't want people just to tell you how good you are, and he didn't,' he says. 'He said nice things, but one of the things that struck me from the conversation was, 'I think I can improve you here, here and here'. 'Straight away, for me, it's not, 'We just want to get him here'. He's obviously had a think and thought, 'This is what I can improve', which was massive for me. 'That was one of the most impressive things. Different managers have different styles, and I really like how he's worked so far. I've really enjoyed it.' Howe and Benitez, Longstaff would say, have had the biggest impact on his senior career to date. He's hoping Farke can make the same mark on this next step in his career.
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Magpies' clashes with Liverpool and Leeds selected for live television coverage
The Magpies will now welcome reigning champions Liverpool to St. James' Park on Monday, 25th August - two days later than originally planned. That game will kick-off at 8pm BST and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. And the trip to newly-promoted Leeds will still take place on Saturday, 30th August as initially set, but will now kick-off at 5:30pm BST instead of 3pm BST. That clash at Elland Road will also be shown live on Sky Sports. Any further changes to United's 2025/26 schedule will be communicated at the earliest opportunity.
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘I'm an aggressive player': Leeds sign Hoffenheim midfielder Anton Stach
Anton Stach has become promoted Leeds' sixth summer signing after joining from Bundesliga side Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee. The 6ft 4in two-cap Germany midfielder has signed a four-year deal at Elland Road, subject to international clearance and a work permit. The 26-year-old, who also had a spell in the German top flight with Mainz, has more than 250 career appearances to his name and can play in defence as well as midfield. Stach told the Leeds website: 'First of all, I am feeling really good. I am excited to join such a good team, such a good Premier League team, and I am looking forward to the next season. My style of play, I would say I am an aggressive player. I am good in duels. I am good at anticipating passes from the opponents and it would be good for the Premier League. Now we will see, I will try my best. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 'The biggest target is to stay in the league and personally just develop, adapt to the league, to the speed of course and then get many good experiences hopefully. I am really excited to play at home with the fans because I think the fans are really good here and as well away. I want to feel the atmosphere because I heard and I saw so many videos of the fans, the promotion [parade] last year over 150,000 people in the city.'
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pascal Struijk: It was a tough session today
Leeds United's first-team squad are on a pre-season training camp in Germany and from the base, LUTV caught up with Pascal Struijk. The defender played 45 minutes against Manchester United at the weekend in a first run-out for the side since their return to training, and he is now looking forward to more work. 'It was a tough session today,' Pascal started, summing up day one. 'We did some top-up running, so I am a little bit leggy, but I mean, that is what pre-season is for! We work hard so that we are ready to go when the time is right.' There's some fresh faces in the team and now one of the more experienced players, who has played in the Premier League before, Struijk was asked about his new teammates. 'I'm going to say the group is really nice. Already from last year and then for new guys to join in, I think it's a pretty easy group to come in. Everybody is very welcoming and the guys as well, they are really good guys. 'I just try to treat everyone really the same. But of course, when they come over for the first time, I will try to give them a helping hand, tell them about Leeds and the city as well.' Finally, the challenge is clear for the team to get ready ahead of a big kick-off against Everton at Elland Road in August. 'I'm really excited to play again in the Premier League. I think for a lot of people, it is a childhood dream to play there. So for me, again, to play will be a big joy. 'I think the best thing we can do is go in there without any fear. You know, you see last year, it is not going to be easy. 'But I mean, with some of the experience that some of the lads have, then we can hopefully bring that onto the team.'
New York Times
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Leeds' Wilfried Gnonto: ‘I probably have something to prove in the Premier League'
'Waaaah waaaah I not wanna play in the Championship'. It's a message that stayed with Wilfried Gnonto for two seasons. Leeds United fans had mocked up an image of him as a baby, with that caption splashed across the top. This was not any old social-media meme, either. No, this was printed on a sizeable banner which was then unfurled among the home support at Elland Road in August 2023. Leeds were hosting West Bromwich Albion in the second tier, six days after it had emerged the Italian was refusing to play. Advertisement Across that first summer after the club's relegation back to the EFL, it became clear Gnonto was among the legion of their players trying to swerve England's second division. He started the first game of that season, but was missing from the next three as he tried to force his way out. Leeds, beset by a catalogue of relegation-related release clauses, were adamant that the young Italian forward, one of the few players without such an exit loophole, was not for sale. New manager Daniel Farke had him training away from the squad, with fellow mutineer Luis Sinisterra, until he, metaphorically, put his dummy back in and agreed to play. 'I had the banner in my phone for two years,' Gnonto tells The Athletic. 'Everyone was sending me stuff and I didn't really take it personally. It was quite fun, to be fair. 'It was a tough period of my career, in my life, but I feel like it helped me to grow into the person I am today. I feel like it was an experience I needed, to understand more what happens in football, all the ups and downs that can happen. 'Now I feel like I enjoy it more. I'm a better man. I'm a bit more experienced and I really needed it.' A picture from August 2023 has been flagged with Gnonto nearly two years on because he recirculated it himself. In an Instagram post celebrating Leeds' promotion back to the Premier League in May, the final slide of 14 images was the banner. He captioned it: 'I not wanna play in the Championship.' A post shared by Wilfried Gnonto (@ Barring a transfer, he won't have to in the coming season. Leeds make their return to the Premier League with the visit of Everton on Saturday, August 16. That 2022-23 top-flight season may have been an ill-fated one for the Yorkshire club, but for Gnonto, it was a first taste of English football that launched his career. He'd arrived as an 18-year-old on deadline day at the start of September, having been written off — even before he'd moved from Swiss side Zurich — by Leeds' head coach at the time Jesse Marsch as a long-term project. Asked in the August if Gnonto was Premier League-ready, the American said, 'No, but we know who he is. With him, it'd be more of a long-term project.' Advertisement 'I saw Jesse's words,' Gnonto says. 'I always thought I could make an impact in the Premier League. Maybe I was a bit young and I didn't really understand what was going on, but at that point, I felt like I could play there, and I proved to myself I could do it. 'It's nice to be back. I probably have something else to prove because I want to prove myself again, that I can be there. I know I can be there and I want to show everyone. It's going to be fun.' Gnonto would eventually force his way into Marsch's plans, starting 14 of 15 games in all competitions between that November and the following February. At his best, he scored four goals in seven appearances during that spell, including a first-minute opener against bitter rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. Three seasons on, Gnonto is still only 21, but hoping to be a difference-maker for Leeds in their first season back in the domestic elite. His best assets, dribbling and pace, could be critical if they find themselves counter-attacking their way out of sustained opposition pressure in the months ahead. 'It's way different from the Championship,' he says of the Premier League. 'In most games (during those two seasons back in the second tier), we had the ball for the whole time and were playing against low blocks. It's a bit difficult, but in the Prem, you have more space for teams like ours. 'We are going to try to exploit them (those spaces) and use them. For me, it's going to be fun — one-v-ones, and then it's going to be up to me to make things happen and change the game.' Just how do Leeds intend to deal with the leap up in class, considering that anticipated loss of their precious Championship-level possession domination? After a fulfilling summer break, split in two in his case by being part of Italy's squad at the European Under-21 Championship, Gnonto and his team-mates have already heard about it from Farke. Advertisement 'We've had a couple of moments,' he says. 'We spoke about the way we want to play, how we want to approach the season and how we are not going to change our approach. Obviously, the level is high, but we want to be aggressive, we want to be dictating games. Hopefully, that's what is going to happen. When you play against top teams, it's not always going to be possible, but it's good to have this type of approach and mentality.' While Gnonto was in Japan on holiday, where he says it was a coincidence to bump into team-mates Ao Tanaka, Isaac Schmidt and Joel Piroe, Leeds were pursuing new players for their squad. Last night, Sean Longstaff became the latest to join Leeds, following Lukas Nmecha, Jaka Bijol, Sebastiaan Bornauw and Gabriel Gudmundsson to Elland Road. While he was always unlikely to say otherwise, Gnonto sang the praises of the club's summer arrivals. Character is almost as important as technical ability when it comes to recruitment in football. Over the three years he has been with Leeds, Gnonto has seen the squad change, including the dynamic off the field — around the training ground. It's a welcoming place, where it's hard not to get along with team-mates. 'The group has changed a lot since I arrived here,' he says. 'In the first year, it was a bit more difficult to speak to people. There were many small groups. I feel like now everyone just gets along with each other. It's fun to be here and we never had problems. Everyone is working hard, having fun. When people come, they have no problems adapting and we just try to make it as easy as possible for them.' Despite not turning 22 until November, there are only six players in the current Leeds dressing room with more appearances for the club than Gnonto. He speaks with maturity about the squad, helping new players to settle in and what's ahead in the Premier League. He's not the baby of their top-flight group anymore.
