Sean Neave, winner of the Newcastle Carabao Cup who has not yet appeared for the first team

Sean Neave is the champion you have never heard of – and never even seen playing. No one has at the level of the first team.

There, Neave is in Wembley on March 16, in the background below, three months from his 18th anniversary, having been appointed only in his third senior match team and again to appear.

However, while Darren Eales, Managing Director of Newcastle United, raises the Carabao cup at altitude, behind him is a neave with a medal of the Golden Winners who swung around his neck.

For any teenage prodigy, this represents a remarkable start for a career. But when we consider that Neave is a fan of Newcastle of childhood, the story becomes really unprecedented.

It is a club that failed to raise domestic silverware for 70 years and, for more than three -quarters of Neave’s life, had shown an almost contemptuous attitude towards Knockout’s competitions.

“It’s my dream of playing for Newcastle,” said Neave in his first professional contract last July. Nine weeks after the historic triumph 2-1 of Newcastle on Liverpool, Neave is not yet to do so, despite the possession of one of the medals which immediately transformed the players into legends of the club in good faith.

“For Sean, being involved in the victory of the Cup as under 18 was incredible,” said Steve Harper, director of the Newcastle Academy Athletics. “He was high as a kite. We do not want to put him pressure because he is still a young man, but we hope he is going and gets good. ”

Neave is young, inexperienced and physically light. However, he has already drawn the eye of Eddie Howe, training with the senior team since February, and there is hope that the versatile striker can follow a path similar to Lewis Miley.

“It’s a scorer,” said Howe at a press conference in April. “In training and training matches, he will appear with a goal, which is a big competence to have. He is fine. He is very young and I must sometimes remember it because he contributes on a technically even field.”

No more recently than December, Neave was still lining up in the Premier League under 18.

“Now we are talking about competing with Alexander Isak in training,” said Diarmuid O’Carroll, coach of Newcastle under 21. “He essentially ignored those under 21, which many players do when they are intended for good things. In six months, Sean has gone from less than 18 to competition day, day with a world class attacker. It’s incredible, really.”

Neave is up to the right of this image of Wembley, with his right fist hitting the air (States Sto Forster / Getty)

The rise of Neave may have been rapid, but those who supervised its development should not be ahead of themselves. Although he is considered an exciting talent, there is recognition that he still has a lot of growth to come.

Sean has entered an elite environment, “said Chris Moore, coach of Newcastle under 18.” This means that he must mature faster than his peers. “”

Last July, the Individual Development Plan of Neave (CDI) – that Newcastle shares between the departments and the age groups to describe the forces of a player and what he must work on – projected that he was going to enter those under 21.

He was impressive for those under 18, after making his debut at 15 in October 2022, before scoring 19 goals in 33 championship matches. But the former Junior of the Wallsend Boys Club was slow to grow in his body, with Harper suggesting that he is “where Lewis (Miley) was 18 months ago as a young boy in a big body”.

“He was behind the other guys in terms of physics,” said Moore, having worked with Neave since he was less than 15 years old. “Sean was very light and he will probably not grow completely in his body for another five years.”

Glenn Craggs, local recruitment head of Newcastle who spotted Neave, assured the academy staff that raw talent was there. A dedicated nutrition and resistance and packaging plan has been established.

“Glenn knew what Sean was from the base,” said Mark Atkinson, responsible for the development of players, who has worked with Neave since the young person joined Newcastle in 2019. “He reminded us that Sean needs time and patience to make himself believe in himself.”

Harper remembers the moment “catalyst”. “At under 15, Sean was not considered one of the” best “players. And that’s his interpretation, ”explains Harper. “But then he scored six in a school match and it gave him the confidence he needed.”

Once Neave started scoring regularly at the level of the under 16s, he prospered.

“He really started to believe in himself after that,” said Atkinson. “He produced a few high -level moments and that gave him confidence. When he arrived as under 17 years old at full time, the season started really positively, he marked and it took off from there. He received a call in England and it was not something that we would have envisaged so early.”

The beginnings in England in the under 17 Neave came against Norway in October 2023, when it was capped at the level of under 18 years of age last November, against Poland and Germany. His technical qualities were never in question and he impressed last season in the UEFA youth league, including a score against Borussia Dortmund at the age of 16.

“He has an ability when he travels with possession where, when someone thinks he has cut the ball, he can simply get this additional touch beyond them,” said Moore. “Instinctively, he sniffs opportunities.”

Versatility has served neave well. Throughout his career for young people, he was deployed as an attacker, no 10 or wide, while he regularly replaced n ° 8 during the training in the first team.

“Sean has always had the ability to score goals,” says Atkinson. “His” super-inforces “are his ability to attack a towards one, his movement, his races forward and his finish.”

This talent for scoring means that, according to his coaches, Neave feels that his natural position is in the center. “It is Rangy, in style similar to Will Osula or Isak,” explains O’Carroll. “He is more a center-forward, but he can play through the front line. He is an intelligent and technically very good footballer.”

“When Sean enters the goal, you have the confidence he will score,” says Harper. “This is not often the case with young players.”

The mentality was also crucial to seize its opportunities. Atkinson and Moore cite an “edge” to his character on the field.

“He is a very nice boy out of the field – humble, polite, hard worker – but he has a great advantage when he plays, almost like the film of a switch,” explains Moore. “He is a real competitor. It is not always the easiest to manage, if I am honest, but all the best players have this side.”

Neave has a maturation to do, which is natural since he remains a teenager.

“Much of Sean’s development is to learn to control your emotions,” says Atkinson. “Sean needs this advantage because it plays better with it. But there is a thin line between being able to channel and control the mental side. This is with which we must support it.”

How Neave reacts to the missing chances in an area on which Newcastle works.

“It’s a center-forward, so he will miss a lot,” says Harper. “Emotionally, it is a little more upset than it should be, but it will change. While Sean increases the levels, these chances will become more complicated, it will get less and less time. This is the next step for him.”

Until November 1, Neave had never started a first League 2 match.

He started the season with those under 18 – scoring seven goals in four games – before finding the net of less than two minutes after his first League 2 debut against Leeds United. Only four other regular season departures followed – bringing three goals and two assists – before Howe asked for the permanent presence of Neave in Benton after the departure of Miguel Almiron in January.

“We say to the guys when they have the opportunity to train in front of the staff of the first team team:” “Remoumable” appointment, “explains Atkinson. “In the end, these are players who take advantage of it. Obviously, Sean has created a little impression.”

There have been nearly 400 training possibilities with the first team for academy players this season, with Neave and Leo Shahar, the 18 -year -old back, parked with the senior team since February.

Neave is still studying, so is regularly at the Academy which continues his studies, where he is among the 10% for the notes among his cohort. Due to the age of Neave, the backup and the staff of the first team had to ensure the affair to ensure that it has separate changing installations in Benton and St James’ Park.

“The manager has shown that if you are good enough, he will put you in it,” explains Moore. “But progress is rarely linear and there is a massive jump in the place where Sean was even a year ago. He must keep his head down and everyone must continue to work with him to, hope, fill his potential.”

Neave appeared for the first time in a team of the day at Birmingham City in FA Cup in February, taking the jersey no 78, before a first league call against West Ham United in March during the week preceding the Cup final. It was an unused substitute eight times at the senior level, especially for each of the last two Newcastle outings against Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea.

“Is he close? Of course, ”says O’Carroll. “But physically, psychologically, technically, tactically, he must improve everything. He must settle, show the manager that he is an option and put himself on the field. But he is not in a better environment to develop. The manager has proven what he can do with the players when he holds them.”

The coaches work on the match out of the Neave ball, its finish on the Tour, the shooting of the left foot, the maintenance game and its ability to manage contact as they seek to extract more from the talented adolescent.

“The great compliment you see for Sean is that he has mounted in a first team environment and not only survived, but has prospered,” explains Harper. “It’s not easy. And they love it. The challenge is to stay there now.”

Howe will have a significant influence on the next steps for your neave.

A loan next season is a possibility, but it is more likely from January, especially if the under 19 years old in Newcastle are back in the young UEFA league with the kind authorization of the first team qualifying for the Champions League. But, if Neave impresses during the pre-season, the head coach can even decide to keep it around the team configuration in the longer term.

“It is very difficult to see what the future still has in store for us,” explains O’Carroll. “People can sometimes be too eager to put the players back on loan. Sometimes the best thing for young players is to stay in an elite environment, to push yourself to be the next to play.

“It’s been four months until the window is closed, so why rush any decision? Nothing has been decided, and we want Sean to come back in pre-season and surprise people. If he explodes the doors, he will not go anywhere. He will push for the games for the first team, then everyone is a winner.”

George Caulkin’s additional report

(Top Photo: Sto Forster / Getty Images)