Young Magpies Go Dutch

By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor

Newcastle United's under-21s touched down in Holland on Sunday ahead of four pre-season friendly games on Dutch soil.

And Football Development Manager Peter Beardsley believes the matches will be a "brilliant experience" for his young players ahead of the Barclays Under-21 Premier League season, which United kick off with an away game at Wolverhampton on Saturday, 8th August.

The Magpies will play against Vitesse Arnhem on Tuesday, 21st July and FC Utrecht two days later, and then they face AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday, 29th July. They will also play a behind-closed-doors game against Ajax.

Newcastle's second-string beat Huddersfield 3-2 in their only friendly so far, with Liam Smith scoring twice and Jamie Holmes also on target, but will step up their preparations in the Netherlands.

"They have to learn to be away from home and we're going for 12 days," Beardsley told nufc.co.uk.

"That's a long time but it'll be regimented, with a game every few days, so it works out really well. The Club have done well for us again and it's a good football country in that they play good football and they're all great games against big clubs in Holland.

"We went to Hong Kong at the end of the season (for the HKFC Citibank Soccer Sevens) but this time it will be a squad of 18 players so it'll be a brilliant experience for them."

One player who has missed out is big striker Tom Heardman, who has suffered an injury in training just weeks after signing his first professional contract.

"Sadly that's part of the game," said Beardsley. "It's a shame for him and I'm not sure how long he's going to be out but it'll be a little while.

"But the good thing is he's got a little bit of security behind him having signed his contract, and we'll take good care of him. We've got Carl Nelson who's a top physio, so the quicker he's back, the better."