Aberdeen flop Matty Longstaff’s comments about his loan spell in the Granite City leave the Newcastle hopeful sounding bitter about his time in Scotland – and shows just how unprepared the Englishman was for senior football.
Longstaff arrived at Pittodrie over the summer with lofty expectations but he failed miserably to come close to meeting them, mustering a mere three starts for Stephen Glass’ side.
“It was an eye-opener,” Longstaff told iFollow. “It was the first time I’d been out on loan. You get to see a different side of football.
“A bit of a long ball kind of game, but I think everything happens for a reason and I’m just looking forward to getting going here (Mansfield).
“In Scotland everything was more of a fight, there’s probably not as much quality there as there is in the Premier League.”
Having had his ‘eyes opened’ by the ‘long ball’ football that seemingly blights Scottish football, Longstaff has now headed to the footballing utopia of Mansfield Town and League Two to hone his skills.
While the Scottish Premiership might not have the same talent on show as the Premier League every weekend, dismissing it as a ‘long ball kind of game’ is the usual go-to excuse for English players when they fail to make the grade in Scotland.
There’s no doubt that on a team-for-team basis, the Premier League stands head and shoulders above its Scottish counterpart, but then with Longstaff heading off to League Two instead of a berth in Newcastle’s starting XI, Longstaff is probably further off the quality on show in the Premier League than the Dons.
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