The Newcastle United squad is taking shape.
Monday morning seeing the club make public that a number of players involved at the World Cup have now joined up with the rest of the Newcastle United squad.
Nick Woltemade, Bazoumana Toure, Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Yoane Wissa shown at the training ground.
The opening two low key friendlies against Darlington and Gateshead have featured mainly a mixture of Under 21s and first team squad members who aren’t expected to be first choice next season.
After Saturday’s game against Gateshead, Eddie Howe said that he expects Wednesday night’s friendly at Bristol City to have a very similar look.
Only two World Cup participants are yet to return.
Bruno Guimaraes was the second last Newcastle United player to exit the World Cup, Brazil knocked out on 5 July. Dan Burn and England ended their World Cup on 15 July.
Bruno Guimaraes is scheduled to be back at the Newcastle United training ground on Friday (31 July) before the NUFC squad fly off for their week at La Manga when pre-season preparations get serious, in advance of the final four friendlies. No news yet on when Dan Burn is set to return, having left the USA less than two weeks ago.
The La Manga trip will see intense training sessions to prepare for the real thing, as well as helping the new signings to fully integrate.
That training camp will culminate with an away game against Valencia on Saturday 8 August.
I think it is very likely that another goalkeeper will have signed by then, with Czech Republic international Lukas Hornicek the latest to be linked. Another goalkeeper arriving will almost certainly trigger Nick Pope leaving. My guess is that as well as a keeper arriving, Newcastle may well sign at least one more outfield player before that Valencia friendly.
That friendly in Spain comes 15 days before the start of NUFC’s Premier League season and my assumption is that we will know by that point what is happening with Bruno Guimaraes. It is time for Arsenal to stop messing about after five weeks of nonsense and playing games via the media. Will they finally put an offer in AND will it be anything remotely close to a figure that Newcastle United might reluctantly trade at? Arsenal’s friendly journalists have so far only speculated lowball potential bids of between £50m and £70m, which are laughable for Newcastle’s best and most important player, not to mention captain and leader.
Apart from Tino Livramento, hopefully the other four who are recovering from injury and/or building up fitness will be available by the time of the Valencia friendly..
Eddie Howe having given these updates after this weekend’s friendly at Gateshead:
Sven Botman
“Sven just took a knock to his face [on Friday] in training. We hope it is nothing serious and he will be back pretty quickly.”
Will Osula
“Will Osula just has a tight groin, we think he will be fine in a week or so.”
Tino Livramento
“Tino Livramento will be around the start of the season we think. He had an operation, so he is probably the most longer term one but he should be back for the start of the season, fingers crossed.”
Lewis Miley
“Lewis Miley is making really good progress, we think he will be back in La Manga to train.”
Joelinton
“Joelinton is doing really well. He is running and we are just building up his fitness slowly, so he builds his robustness back.”
Newcastle United matches:
Saturday 18 July 2026
Newcastle United 3 Darlington 0 (Willock, Osula, Neave with the goals)
Saturday 25 July 2026
Gateshead 1 Newcastle United 1 (An own goal giving United the draw)
Wednesday 29 July 2026
Bristol City v Newcastle United friendly 7.30pm
Saturday 8 August 2026
Valencia v Newcastle friendly 9pm local time (8pm UK time)
Wednesday 12 August 2026
Newcastle v Everton pre-season friendly with 5.15pm kick-off at Murrayfield.
Saturday 15 August 2026
Newcastle United v Bayer Leverkusen friendly at St James’ Park, 3pm.
Sunday 16 August 2026
Newcastle United v Strasbourg friendly at St James’ Park, 4pm.
Sunday 23 August 2026
Newcastle v Liverpool 4.30pm – United’s first Premier League match of the season
Wednesday 26 August 2026
Carabao Cup second round match, opposition and time TBC (Draw will be made in second week of August after first round matches have been played)
Saturday 29 August 2026
Spurs v Newcastle (5.30pm) Sky Sports
Tuesday 1 September 2026
Premier League transfer window closes at 11pm.
Saturday 5 September 2026
Newcastle v Bournemouth 12.30pm TNT Sports
Monday 14 September 2026
Leeds v Newcastle (8pm) Sky Sports
(Please note, should either club reach the Carabao Cup third round and be scheduled to play against a club participating in this season’s UEFA Champions League, the match will revert to Saturday 12 September and take place at 12:30pm)
Saturday 19 September 2026
Newcastle v Hull (3pm) No live TV