United Arrive In Italy

By Dan King in Forte dei Marmi, Italy

The Magpies' Development Squad have arrived in Italy ahead of the Torneo di Viareggio, which begins on Monday.

A party of 27 flew out from Newcastle airport shortly after midday on Sunday to compete in the prestigious under-21 competition in Tuscany. They arrived at Pisa International Airport shortly after 8pm (GMT) before making the short trip to their team hotel.

The 48-team tournament features sides from 16 countries across the world, and United are England's sole representatives. 

Led by Peter Beardsley and Willie Donachie, the team will train tomorrow before taking on Fiorentina on Tuesday evening in their first game of the group stages.

And, upon touching down in Italy, Development Coach Donachie spoke to nufc.co.uk about what he hopes the young squad will gain from the competition.

"For me, the main thing is that it's a tremendous experience for the young players," said Donachie. "You only learn with experience and by playing against better players, they're going to learn about the game and about different systems so it's an unbelievable opportunity for them.

"We want to win, obviously, but no matter what happens it's going to be a great experience."

Included in the squad are Swedish goalkeeper Ole Soderberg and midfielder Michael Richardson, who have both appeared on the bench for the first-team in recent weeks, and left-back Paul Dummett who has also been in Alan Pardew's thinking lately following his impressive displays for the Reserves.

Phil Airey made his senior debut at Stevenage in the FA Cup last month, and will make his comeback from a hamstring injury, while Haris Vuckic and Fabio Zamblera have also travelled although neither are likely to be available until the knock-out stages as they recover from injury.

Donachie added: "We've got a few players either injured or not available, like Haris (Vuckic) and Fabio (Zamblera) and Fergie (Shane Ferguson) who was left at home. But we've still got a good bunch of lads with a lot of potential and it's going to be great playing against some of the very best young players."

The full party is: Ole Soderberg, Jonathan Mitchell, Dan Leadbitter, Alex Nicholson, Louis Storey, Jeff Henderson, Michael Riley, Paul Dummett, Greg McDermott, Michael Richardson, Brad Inman, Michael Hoganson, Patrick McLaughlin, Joan Edmundsson, Conor Newton, Haris Vuckic, Phil Airey, Fabio Zamblera, Dan Taylor, Peter Beardsley (Reserve Team Coach), Willie Donachie (Development Coach), Chris Terpcou (Academy goalkeeping coach), Michael Harding (physio), Richard Akenhead (fitness coach), George Ramshaw (kit man), Tom Coffield (video analyst), Dan King (Communications Officer).