Sean Steur: The exciting midfield maestro who swapped Ajax for Newcastle in a brave £23m transfer

Steur has set the bar high with his early displays and career ambitions, but few would bet against him going far in the game. He does, however, have some deficiencies he needs to work on.

He was challenged by Oscar Garcia to become more of a direct threat, having ended the season with just one goal and two assists across all competitions. He did not fare any better in the Eerste Divisie with Jong Ajax before his breakthrough.

“That is definitely something I want to add to my game,” Steur said to ESPN. “I need to become more decisive in the final stages. I need to shoot more. Creating chances is okay, but everything needs to be better. I am convinced that this will come. I am working on that in training.

“I watch back a lot of footage to see which situations I handled well or should have handled differently. I think my type of player should score around eight to 10 goals per season.”

The defensive side of his game needs even more work.

Garcia found the Ajax midfield was too easily exposed and lacked steel in matches he started and put him back on the bench. He faced criticism for his complacency in the 2-1 loss at home to Twente. The teenager ran out of steam and allowed Bart van Rooij to stroll away from him and win possession before going on to fire in the late winner.

“After that goal, I actually felt a bit guilty,” Steur admitted. “It’s difficult to explain exactly what happens at such a moment, but it is part of my position to sprint along in such a situation. That is something I need to improve on.”

It was not the only time he had looked shaky. Sometimes he appears defensively apathetic and is hesitant to fight for the ball, resulting in him often going missing when Ajax are not in control. Even in the performance that earned Lukkien’s praises, he faced criticism for seemingly shying away from his duty.

“The problem with those boys is that, from the Ajax school of thought, it’s all about: what do you do with the ball? But you are a midfielder; what do you do without the ball? At some point, you have to try to win the ball back. They are running in circles in the midfield, as it were, without ever getting into a duel,” former PSV midfielder Arnold Bruggink said, summing up the issue in Steur’s game.

“We really hammered that home with him in the youth academy,” Grim said in January. “That Sean needed to take more responsibility in that regard. But he is picking that up well: in training, you can see that he is working on it tremendously.”