Eddie Howe's Newcastle United tour squad underlines one thing as Dan Ashworth focuses on transfer business

Eddie Howe has taken almost 30 players to Austria for the club’s training camp in Saalfelden, which is ringed by mountain ranges.

And the club needed a double-decker coach to accommodate the tour squad, which includes new signings Sven Botman and Nick Pope.

United’s players were all smiles when they disembarked from the coach outside the club’s well-appointed hotel ahead of a week of training – and friendlies against 1860 Munich and Mainz 05 – in the country.

However, they may not be smiling after some of the tough sessions Howe and his staff have lined up for them.

And not all of those players will still be at the club when the new Premier League campaign kicks off next month. Howe – who hopes to sign two or three more players before the transfer deadline – must whittle his squad down to 25 senior players by the end of next month.

To that end, three players – Ciaran Clark, Dwight Gayle and Jeff Hendrick – didn’t even make the tour squad. Clark is set for a medical at Championship club Sheffield United.

Matty Longstaff and Jamal Lewis face uncertain futures at the club, but they have travelled to Austria – and, at least, have a chance to impress over the next week.

Dan Ashworth, the club’s newly-appointed sporting director, must oversee a number of incomings and outgoings over the coming weeks.

Speaking last month before the arrivals of Botman and Pope, Ashworth said: “We’re about to start a transfer window, so there will be a lot of things on the to-do list with players in and out, things Eddie will want to do for the first-team squad.

“The two most important things for me at the moment are to try and understand and get to know all the staff, how the club functions and the culture here, and then, short-term, help drive the transfer window for the next three months.”

Ashworth, previously at Brighton and Hove Albion, has been tasked with restructuring the playing side of the club. That, however, is a longer-term project.

In the short-term, Ashworth must get the club’s remaining business over the line – and get the squad down to a manageable size.