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Newcastle United squad named for China – Some surprise names…

5 years ago
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Newcastle United have revealed which players will be travelling to China for the Premier League Asia Trophy.

The Magpies play Wolves on Wednesday and then depending on the results of the two games, play either Man City or West Ham for first/second or third/fourth.

Of course, this is the time of year when football fans are looking forward to see how their new signings get on in pre-season…

However, a bit of a problem there for Newcastle United, only 27 days until the transfer window closes and  still the only Premier League club not to sign anybody, or have a manager.

In contrast, Wolves have five new signings, West Ham three, whilst Man City have a couple including a new record signing.

Having a look at the Newcastle United travelling squad makes painful reading, particularly when you bear in mind that by the time they return there will be less than three weeks until the PL season kicks off

When you glance through the players (see below) who are going  to China, it maybe explains why Newcastle United have made this announcement at 3am this morning.

You would almost think they were trying to not draw too much attention to it…

With no new signings and with Rondon, Perez, Kenedy, Diame and Barreca no longer here, fair to say that they have had to make up the signings from somewhere.

Nothing against any of these as individuals and especially with the kids included I really hope they make it at NUFC in the future – but everybody know that around half of this squad or more, aren’t positive choices. Quite simply this is what we have, thanks to Mike Ashley.

The squad numbers having to be made up with the likes of Aaron, Lazaar, Colback…

We have also discovered thanks to the announcement that Joselu is not out in Spain waiting to be officially announced as an Alaves new signing, instead he is off to China. In Newcastle’s current state they can’t even afford to let him leave…

Newcastle United Official Announcement – 3am Friday 12 July 2019:

Newcastle United have announced their squad for the 2019 Premier League Asia Trophy in Nanjing and Shanghai ahead of the Magpies’ pre-season trip to China.

The Magpies travel to the Far East on Saturday and players including Martin Dúbravka, Fabian Schär, Jamaal Lascelles, Matt Ritchie and Sean Longstaff will be on the plane.

Florian Lejeune (knee ACL) and Rob Elliot (shoulder) will miss the trip to Asia due to injuries while Miguel Almirón, Christian Atsu and Henri Saivet have been given a period to leave to recover from representing their national teams this summer.

Newcastle will play in the Premier League Asia Trophy’s opening match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Nanjing Olympic Stadium on Wednesday, 17th July (kick-off 11am BST).

It is directly followed by back-to-back Premier League champions Manchester City against West Ham United (kick-off 1.30pm BST). Both matches are included in the price of one ticket.

Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles said:

“We are traveling to China and it’s going to be a great experience playing in a completely different country with different surroundings and environment. We are very thankful to be taking part.

“A big part of it will be gaining experience, seeing different situations at the same time.

“Winning games will put a marker down and set an example for what we are going to do during the new season.

“I do think every game we play, especially in pre-season, will push us toward a good start of the season. We will be looking to win the games.”

Fans in China can watch the same teams in action at the Hongkou Stadium in Shanghai on Saturday, 20th July, when a third/fourth place play-off (kick-off 10am BST) will be followed by the final (kick-off 12.30pm BST), to see who will be crowned Premier League Asia Trophy champions 2019.

Goalkeeper Dúbravka has kept 15 clean sheets in 50 Premier League starts for Newcastle, at a ratio of one clean sheet every 0.3 starts – the second-best ratio of any Newcastle goalkeeper in the Premier League.

South Korean international Ki (15) ranks third in Premier League history for most goals by Asian players, behind Son Heung-min (42) and Park Ji-Sung (19), while only Manchester City (one) and Liverpool (three) lost fewer away games than Newcastle United (seven) in the Premier League last term.

The Premier League Asia Trophy is returning to Mainland China for the first time in a decade while United will be making their second appearance in the competition after competing in the inaugural tournament, held in Malaysia, back in 2003.

Newcastle United Premier League Asia Trophy squad:

Martin Dúbravka, Ciaran Clark, Paul Dummett, Ki Sung-yueng, Fabian Schär, Jamaal Lascelles, Jacob Murphy, Jonjo Shelvey, Dwight Gayle, Matt Ritchie, Yoshinori Muto, Isaac Hayden, Rolando Aarons, Federico Fernández, Javier Manquillo, Joselu, Jack Colback, Jamie Sterry, Karl Darlow, Freddie Woodman, Nathan Harker, Achraf Lazaar, Sean Longstaff, Matthew Longstaff, Owen Bailey, Kelland Watts, Tom Allan.

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