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This article is part of Football FanCast's In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets...

Having enjoyed a meteoric rise since breaking into the Newcastle first-team last season, Sean Longstaff has had a whirlwind 2019. The midfielder made nine Premier League appearances in the previous campaign, and his form and performances attracted reported interest from Manchester United.

A move to Old Trafford however failed to materialise, and the 21-year-old has since admitted the rumours linking him to United "flattered" him. Just like the rest of his Magpies teammates, Longstaff has had to deal with a change in manager, and his start to the current season has also been hampered by an injury.

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After making a full recovery for the game against Leicester on Sunday afternoon, Newcastle would have undoubtedly hoped for him to get back to his best. Unfortunately for them, the hometown boy struggled hugely against Brendan Rodgers' men.

The Magpies did themselves no favours with Isaac Hayden's first-half sending off. But even with ten men, they struggled more than they should have. And that was in part down to Longstaff's inability to stem the tide against Leicester's aggressive midfield.

The likes of Wilfred Ndidi, Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet ran the show for the Foxes in the middle of the park, but really made Newcastle ineffective with their work off the ball.

Between the three of them, they won 20 duels in total and completed 14 tackles. Longstaff on the other hand appeared to be the gift that kept on giving, surrendering possession an eye-watering 22 times over the course of the game - the most of any Magpies player on the pitch.

The mitigating argument will be the central midfielder was rushed back into action by Steve Bruce. But how does that affect one's ability to simply pass the ball to a teammate? Just 68% of his passes found their intended target, whilst only one of his seven attempted long balls were accurate.

All in all, it was a day to forget for the 5 foot 11 man linked with a big-money to United. On this evidence, he certainly didn't prove Newcastle right to have demanded £50m for him in the summer.