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Armstrong: Why winning World Cup gives me extra confidence for next season
Written by Dan King
Adam Armstrong believes winning the FIFA Under-20 World Cup with England will help him when he returns to training with Newcastle next month.
Along with club colleague Freddie Woodman, the 20-year-old frontman was part of the Young Lions squad which made history by winning the tournament in Korea this month.
He scored in the opening group game against Argentina and arrived back to the UK this week with a medal after England overcame Venezuela in Sunday's final.
Armstrong - who became the second youngest player to represent Newcastle in the Premier League when he made his debut against Fulham in March 2014 - will now get the chance to rest before reporting back to United's Benton base.
But he will have an extra spring in his step when he links back up with his team-mates for pre-season training.
"Confidence is a massive thing in any sport and I think a lot of the lads will have that after the tournament," Armstrong told nufc.co.uk.
"So I'll get my head down in pre-season and see how things go."
Having hit 20 goals in a hugely successful loan spell with Coventry in 2015/16, Armstrong spent last season with Barnsley in the Sky Bet Championship.
He scored six times in 21 league starts, while he made a further 13 appearances from the bench and won the Tykes' goal of the season award.
Reflecting on his time at Oakwell, he said: "I think it went good. There was a lot of expectation on me, with how well I did at Coventry, to try and do the exact same again in a different league, but football's not like that.
"I still scored goals in the Championship and did well, I thought, so moving forward now onto next season I'll see where that brings me.
"I'll be back in pre-season with Newcastle and see how things go."
Armstrong was back at St. James' Park for the final game of last season, when Barnsley were beaten 3-0 as United clinched the Championship title in dramatic style.
The terms of his loan deal meant he couldn't play against his parent club, but he said: "I was there in the crowd - it was unreal, to be fair.
"For us to be back in the Premier League is the main thing and winning the Championship just topped it off."
"Moving forward onto next season, I'll see where that brings me. I'll be back in pre-season with Newcastle and see how things go."