Matty Longstaff should be a young man doing all he can to catch the eye of his new Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe.
But it just has not happened for the Magpies midfielder so far following a brief but uneventful spell at Aberdeen.
He arrived to great fanfare in the final week of the August transfer window. A dynamic, box-to-box midfielder capable of spectacular goals, as he showed with a memorable strike for Newcastle against Manchester United, Longstaff was a new face which got Dons fans excited.
Fast forward to the end of November and it feels as if we’re all still waiting for his Aberdeen career to get going. With Newcastle having the option to recall him in January, there is a real possibility his time in Scotland will be little more than a footnote unless his fortunes improve dramatically in the next five weeks.
The local newspaper of his parent club described the player as having been caught up in a ‘political game’ at Pittodrie due to Aberdeen’s poor form.
For any Newcastle fans reading this – we’re sorry to disappoint you, but the suggestion of some agenda at play as far as Longstaff is concerned is ridiculous.
Ask any Dons supporter and they’ll tell you the same thing – he has not offered much at all to suggest he should be holding down a regular place in Stephen Glass’ team.
In fact he has been close to anonymous, unless you count his culpability in the build-up to Dundee United scoring the only goal of the game on Saturday, which Glass labelled ‘inexcusable.’
Longstaff yet to hit any sort of stride in Scotland
Longstaff is 21, has represented England under-20s twice and was a youngster tipped for a bright future.
His move to Pittodrie was supposed to be a chance to play regular football and gain some experience in a competitive environment before returning to St James’ Park ready to challenge for a first team place.
Glass certainly put his faith in his new recruit initially, handing the player a starting berth in his first two games, a 1-1 draw with Ross County on August 29 and the 2-0 loss at Motherwell on September 11.
It was October 3 before he was seen again, playing 88 minutes in the 2-1 loss to Celtic at Pittodrie. The defeat to the Hoops was his last start for the Dons, with his two subsequent appearances both coming from the bench.
An injury to Declan Gallagher resulted in him playing 47 minutes against Hibernian on October 23, with his 17 minutes against Dundee United in the Dons’ 1-0 loss at Tannadice on Saturday his only other action for Aberdeen.
In total, the five appearances amount to 283 minutes of game time in Scotland in nearly three months.
In terms of his contribution, he has one shot on target and has created five chances, all coming in his first three games.
Those statistics make it hard for Glass to justify starting the player, especially when you consider the holding midfielder at Pittodrie, captain Scott Brown, has contributed two goals.
Given his parent club has become the richest side in world football during his time in Scotland, it is fair to say Longstaff needs to find some inspiration and increase his contribution if he wants to catch the eye of his new manager.
Actually, scratch that. He needs it at Pittodrie if he is to impress his loan club manager.