Is this £5m man Newcastle United's most underrated player?

There are a few players in Newcastle United's squad that have, at one point, been hailed as 'underrated'.

Recently Harvey Barnes said in a quick-fire interview that he believes Sean Longstaff to be Newcastle's most underrated man.

There's definitely a case to be made for Longstaff, too. He gets a lot of stick (usually from us) for not affecting the game in a positive way. His final balls and his shooting leave a lot to be desired.

Behind that, however, is a solid midfielder who grafts like it's his last game. In commentary during last night's win over Chelsea it was mentioned that Eddie Howe's win rate when Sean Longstaff starts is 20% higher than when he doesn't, which tells you a lot.

Emil Krafth could be Newcastle's most underrated player

However, we're not here to talk about Sean Longstaff, we are talking about the Swedish superstar Emil Krafth, the £5 million signing from Amiens who has been at the club since 2019 and never really made any big fanfare, but has always been reliable when called upon. At least since Eddie Howe arrived.

Before Howe's arrival, Krafth didn't really do much of anything, but when Kieran Trippier picked up an injury, Krafth came into the side to cover for him and did a superb job making fans wonder just where he'd been the past couple of years.

An ACL injury picked up in the Carabao Cup win over Tranmere put him out for a year, but when he came back, it was like he'd never been away. It was starting to become clear why he's a permanent fixture in the Swedish national side.

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We need to talk about that run by Emil Krafth last night

Last night against Chelsea we saw an entirely different side to Krafth. He's always been solid defensively but never really offered much going forward, especially when compared to Kieran Trippier and even Tino Livramento.

But towards the end of the match last night Krafth made a bursting run through the middle of the park, robbing Mykhailo Mudryk of possession and then turned Renato Veiga inside out before laying the ball off for Will Osula who brilliantly took the ball and cut inside before unleashing a left-foot shot that hit the post. If that had gone in we'd have been talking about Emil Krafth for weeks.

He earned himself the nickname Krafu when he deputised for Trippier in Eddie Howe's first six months in charge and there have been no signs that he doesn't deserve such a moniker.

Emil Krafth may not be a headline grabbing player, but he does what he does and he does it very well.