Newcastle United legend spotted in Tokyo in official £30m deal update

The day started with a trip to the Komazawa Olympic Park in Tokyo where Newcastle’s players would be training for the first time. Bruno Guimaraes joined up with the squad after international duty with Brazil and a delayed return.

New signing Lloyd Kelly was also spotted back in training after missing the first two friendlies of pre-season. The defender is expected to feature in Japan though it will likely be the Saturday match against Yokohama F. Marinos.

Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock were also on the grass building up their fitness after missing the Hull City friendly.

The 15-minute open session showed six goalkeepers have made the trip to the Far East with Martin Dubravka joining up with the squad along with Nick Pope, Odysseas Vlachodimos, John Ruddy, Mark Gillespie and Max Thompson. It is officially the most well-stacked position at the football club heading into the new season - make of that what you will.

After the session, Eddie Howe and tour captain Dan Burn spoke to the media to provide updates on injuries, transfers and the Tokyo trip.

Howe reiterated his commitment to Newcastle amid England speculation and admitted he is an admirer of AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw though said there was ‘no update’ he could share.

Burn also joked it was ‘lonely’ being the only member of the club’s ‘leadership group’ in Japan with Jamaal Lascelles and Callum Wilson injured and Kieran Trippier still on holiday. The stand-in captain revealed there would also be a vote amongst the players to appoint a new member to the ‘leadership group’ following Matt Ritchie’s departure.

After the press conference, it was straight to Euro Sports Tokyo in Ginza for Newcastle’s 2024-25 Adidas third kit launch. The kit is a throwback to the 1999-00 away shirt with a retro 1983 to 1988 club crest on the front.

Those at the launch in Tokyo got the bonus of meeting Newcastle legend Shola Ameobi and also a slightly discounted deal compared to the UK shirt due to tax reasons at around £66 (13,150 Japanese yen). Unsurprisingly, the queue was around the block and remained that way into the Tokyo evening.

The launch comes after Newcastle struck a £30million a year deal with Adidas to return as kit manufacturers with the new shirt being worn in Saturday’s match against Yokohama F. Marinos.

Tomorrow, Newcastle will be in action against Urawa Red Diamonds (11:30am BST/7:30pm local time) at the Saitama Stadium where we will have updates throughout on ShieldsGazette.com - so stay tuned!