Eddie Howe responds to Jamie Redknapp's staunch TV defence of Sean Longstaff

Eddie Howe insists he still has "options" in his midfield engine room despite Sandro Tonali emerging as a doubt for the home game with Brentford.

The Italy international picked up a strain on duty with his country last week and went through some late fitness tests at Benton on the eve of the encounter with the Bees. If Tonali does not play it is easy to assume that Sean Longstaff would slot straight into the middle but Howe believes it is not as simple as that.

When asked if Longstaff will come straight back in, Howe told Chronicle Live: "It is never that simple. I think we have options and that is the beauty of having strength in depth especially in midfield this year. And we are certainly going to need it."

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Howe's decision to leave Longstaff out was questioned in front of a live TV audience after the 3-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion with Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp using graphics to illustrate United's record without him. But after spending over £100million on central midfielders Howe has to weigh up whether to allow the Tonali-Bruno relationship to gel first before recalling the loyal Academy product.

On Longstaff, Howe said: "Sean was injured during pre season so it wasn’t a case of him being moved out of the team. I couldn’t rate Sean highly enough and we missed him at the back end of last season, if you remember, a big miss. So Sean is returning to full fitness after a period out."

When asked about the stats presented by Redknapp, Howe said: "The team missed him at the back end of last season, not just the beginning of this. He’s got unbelievable endurance levels - fitness-wise he’s an incredible athlete, which is sometimes underrated.

"But also his brains, he’s got a very good understanding of how we want to play. Positionally he’s very good and he’s got a really good range of passing so, yeah, Sean is a top player."