Jay Turner-Cooke, Santiago Muñoz, Alex Murphy and Matt Bondswell have all travelled with the first team to Portugal, bidding to impress Eddie Howe during our latest six-day training camp abroad.
Muñoz, 19, joined from Santos Laguna as the final signing of the Mike Ashley era in August last year. After overcoming an initial injury, he’s been a regular part of our second string over the past six months.
The centre-forward has clearly caught the attention of Howe and co. in recent weeks after a string of impressive performances with the u21s, capped off with a free-kick goal against Blackburn Rovers u21s on Wednesday.
Turner-Cooke, 18, has been a part of the Newcastle setup since joining from Sunderland following his fathers controversial departure from the Black Cats – and Howe has already flirted with introducing the attacking midfielder to the Premier League towards the back end of last season.
One of the clubs lesser mentioned summer signings is centre-back Murphy, 18, who joined from Galway United earlier this month and scored in a 3-1 win over Blackburn earlier this week. The third left-footed centre-back the club have signed since the PIF takeover, the Irishman is undoubtedly one for the future, but he could benefit greatly from time spent around the first team.
Nottingham born Bondswell, 20, has plied his trade at left-back for multiple clubs across his young career; including Nottingham Forest u18s and RB Leipzig u17s and u19s. He has represented England at every level from u15 to u18, and has already amassed over 20 appearances for the u23s since joining last March – with a loan to Shrewsbury in between.
Here’s pictures of all four about to board the plane that left for Portugal on Friday afternoon:
