This Newcastle United player is working on his own project restart

Muto and his team-mates are preparing for a June 21 behind-closed-doors home game against Sheffield United.

Steve Bruce’s side beat Middlesbrough 3-2 in a friendly at the club’s Benton training ground – and Muto was among the scorers after coming off the bench.

The striker, signed from Mainz for £9.5million in the summer of 2018, has found his opportunities limited under Bruce up to now, though he hopes to feature more in the club’s nine remaining games.

“I wanted to score in this game,” said Muto. “I scored, so I’m really happy. But I need more goals, and I aim to score in the Premier League. The most important thing is to score for us. I’m a striker. I need to keep scoring.”

Muto has only played 201 minutes of Premier League for Bruce, who succeeded Rafa Benitez at St James’s Park last summer.

“I think he’s never really had a fair crack of the whip,” Bruce told NUFC TV. “He trains every day as if it’s his last, and scores a goal (against Middlesbrough), so let’s hope that helps him in the next six weeks, or whatever we’ve got to go to finish off the season.”

Muto and his team-mates returned to training last month, and the 27-year-old said: “For three weeks we have been training really hard.

“The first game was very good for us. We have to improve our condition, and we have to win our next game. We have to push ourselves hard.”

Miguel Almiron and Joelinton were also on target against Middlesbrough, who led 2-0 at the break.

Bruce said: “We made eight changes in the second half. We brought in Allan (Saint-Maximin, Almiron and Joe, and that gave us a little bit of impetus going forward. It was a good workout. They showed a little bit of spirit not to be beaten.”

Newcastle, 13th in the Premier League with nine games left to play, came through the fixture unscathed.

“The most important thing is to get minutes under their belt,” said Bruce. “Everybody’s come through, and that’s the most important thing at this stage.”