Newcastle United have announced that the club will play two friendlies at St James’ Park in July 2022 ahead of 22-23 season.
Newcastle will host Serie A’s Atalanta on Friday 29 July at St James’ Park with kick-off confirmed for 7:45pm BST.
Atalanta’s trip will also mark the first time that an Italian team will visit Tyneside since Hellas Verona lost 2-0 in August 2017, as Ayoze Perez and Christian Atsu both scored early goals to wrap up victory for the Magpies.
Eddie Howe’s Magpies will then host Athletic Bilbao the following day on Saturday 30 July with kick-off timings set to be confirmed in due course.
Athletic Bilbao will be the first Spanish visitors to St James’ Park since Real Sociedad suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat in August 2014, in which Moussa Sissoko struck a 88th minute winner for the Toon Army in a closely fought contest.
The club also confirmed that Howe is set to split his first-team squad into two groups for these friendlies, with one group playing against Atalanta whilst the other group will face Athletic Bilbao, although there is a possibility of player swaps depending on fitness and injury issues.
Ticket details for both matches will be announced in due course alongside additional pre-season fixtures.
Newcastle have also announced that the club will sign defender, Alex Murphy from Galway United, with the youngster going straight into the club’s Academy set-up at Under-23s level in July.
Newcastle United Academy manager, Steve Harper insisted that the club “are very pleased” to sign Murphy who made his first-team debut for Galway in 2021 at just 16 years-old.
Harper proceeded to describe the teenager as “a very promising young player” who will be “a real coup” for the club’s Academy, having fended off interest from alternate clubs which Harper described as “testament to the direction the club is going in under our owners.”
The 47 year-old also paid tribute to Galway United for their support and assistance in helping Newcastle complete the deal, adding that he wishes the Irish club “the very best of luck for the rest of the season.”
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