Eddie Howe gives transfer update as new signing set to be part of Newcastle United squad at Villa Park
Newcastle United get their Premier League season underway on Saturday with a 12:30pm kick-off against Aston Villa at Villa Park live on TNT Sports.
After a stressful pre-season, it's time to put all that behind us and focus on football once again. Finally.
Although it's going to be difficult to do that for now with so much unresolved tension around St James' Park, and Eddie Howe's pre-match press conference on Friday morning was dominated by questions around Alexander Isak.
However, there were moments where the game against Aston Villa did come into focus. However briefly.
Eddie Howe confirms Malick Thiaw will be in the squad at Villa Park
Eddie Howe was asked if Malick Thiaw would be involved on Saturday after completing his move from AC Milan in midweek, with Howe hinting that the big German would be involved.
"Malick will be part of the squad. He's trained for two days. It's never easy coming in at the end of pre-season when our work is almost done but in the little bits we've seen, we've signed a top quality player."
However, when it came to Jacob Ramsey, Howe confirmed that he would not be involved on Saturday, with the gaffer refusing to go into too much detail about the move as it's not completed yet.
Malick Thiaw will probably be on the bench for Newcastle tomorrow
We expect that Malick Thiaw will be on the bench tomorrow, as it's very rare that Eddie Howe throws a new signing into the starting lineup straight away, especially one who has only trained with the group for two days.
As for Jacob Ramsey, it's likely that the move is completed today, and he could travel with his new team back to his old club, where he will get to say his goodbyes.
Anthony Elanga is likely to make his competitive debut from the start tomorrow, having arrived early in the window. He seems to have taken to Eddie Howe's style like a duck to water.
