Paul Mitchell & young trio spotted with Newcastle United squad in Saudi Arabia - 12 players ruled out

The club posted a social media update showing members of the travelling squad on the Saudia flight to Riyadh. All of Newcastle’s fit non-international players have made the trip with the squad supplemented by a number of Under-21s players.

Harvey Barnes and Will Osula were pictured on the flight along with Under-21s trio Jay Turner-Cooke, Ben Parkinson and Ellis Stanton.

The Magpies will train at Al Awwal Park, home of Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr. Like Newcastle, Al Nassr are majority owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and have made several high-profile signings in recent seasons.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozović and Aymeric Laporte all currently play for Al Nassr, who finished second in the Saudi Pro League last season behind another PIF-owned club, Al Hilal.

Newcastle chief commercial officer Peter Silverstone and sporting director Paul Mitchell are among those who have travelled with the squad to Riyadh on Friday.

Newcastle will be without Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Lewis Hall, Tino Livramento, Lewis Miley, Alex Murphy, Martin Dubravka, Odysseas Vlachodimos and Miguel Almiron for the trip as they represent their respective nations on international duty. Emil Krafth withdrew from the Sweden squad after breaking his collar bone in training last week.

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Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe confirmed the trip last week as he told The Gazette: “We’ve got an extended break as well because we play [West Ham United] on the Monday so players will go away, we go to Saudi Arabia and come back.

“We will try and keep the feeling we have now because we know we’re in a good position and building our season but we have some key games to come.”

Newcastle won’t be playing any friendly match in Saudi Arabia this time having played Al Hilal and Al Ittihad during their previous visits. But the club will be putting on an ‘exclusive’ training session at Al Awwal Park on Saturday morning for supporters who have booked a free ticket in advance via the Newcastle United website.

A ‘Members Only’ digital Q&A with Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy and Will Osula will also take place on Saturday from 11:15am to 12pm (GMT).

Following the international break and trip to Saudi Arabia, Newcastle return to Premier League action against West Ham United at St James’ Park on November 25 (8pm kick-off).