Newcastle's 29-man Australia squad in full as key men left at home and youngsters given chance
Eddie Howe has taken a 29-man group to Australia as Newcastle United prepare for two games Down Under in the coming days.
Fresh from beating Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, the Magpies headed straight for the airport and took their seats on board a flight to Melbourne where they will face Tottenham Hotspur and an A-League All Star XI as part of 'Global Football Week' in the city. A number of key stars have been left out of the 21,000-mile round trip, while Howe has handed exciting opportunities to a significant amount of youngsters.
In terms of absentees, goalkeeping duo Martin Dubravka and Loris Karius have both been left at home. The latter is destined to leave Newcastle when his contract is up in the summer, while the former has featured heavily in recent weeks. Nick Pope, who started at Brentford, is joined by fellow shot-stoppers Mark Gillespie and Aidan Harris on the trip.
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Fabian Schar was also fit enough to feature at Brentford after overcoming a recent hamstring injury but the Swiss star has been left behind with Euro 2024 in mind. Tino Livramento also misses out as he recovers from an ankle problem.
Senior defensive stars such as Lewis Hall, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth and Paul Dummett are joined by youth prospects Ciaran Thompson, Alex Murphy and Dylan Charlton. Harrison Ashby is also back after a loan spell at Swansea City and will feature this week.
In midfield, Sean Longstaff has been given a well-deserved rest after a gruelling campaign which saw him feature 46 times in all competitions. Travis Hernes, Ellis Stanton, Jay Turner-Cooke, Joe White and Lucas de Bolle have all been included in the post-season jaunt, along with Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Elliot Anderson, Jacob Murphy and Matt Ritchie.
In attack, both Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak took their seats on the plane, along with Miguel Almiron and Harvey Barnes. Youngsters Ben Parkinson and Amadou Diallo have also been selected, while Garang Kuol has returned from a poor loan spell at Volendam and will feature in his native country.
Anthony Gordon was been left at home as he recovers from an Achilles issue suffered in the defeat to Manchester United.
“Anthony won’t be going to Australia," Howe confirmed on Sunday. "He had a scan very soon after the Manchester United game – we don’t think it’s a serious injury, but it’s enough to keep him out of today and Australia."
Newcastle will face Tottenham at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday, 22nd May before facing the A-League All Star Men on Friday. The kick-off times are 10.45am BST and 08.05am BST respectively.