Cheick Tiote was back on Tyneside on Thursday morning after returning from international duty with the Ivory Coast - and was in good spirits despite his country's Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final exit.

The midfielder scored his first international goal against Nigeria at the weekend but his side lost 2-1 to crash out of the tournament. But that's good news for Newcastle, who can now call upon his services for Saturday's trip to Tottenham.

It remains to be seen whether he will go straight into Alan Pardew's side, who have won their last two matches, but it's a nice problem for the Magpies manager and Tiote certainly looked keen to impress at United's training ground.

And a splash of hair dye helped him to stand out even more as Club Photographer Ian Horrocks made him the main subject of nufc.co.uk's latest behind-the-scenes gallery.