Poland v Netherlands: Newcastle United fans' reasons to watch Euro 2024

We are going to be breaking down every reason to watch the first round of group games in Euro 2024 from a Newcastle United perspective covering players who play, have played or have been linked to Newcastle.

There will be a few tenuous links as we cover some games, but we will justify every selection.

Obviously, once the first round of fixtures is done there's no real point in doing more as every Nation will have been covered at least once.

Getting Sunday's games underway is Poland v Netherlands at 2pm and we've got to highly contrasting squads from a Toon perspective.

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I got nothing for Poland

Poland's squad, unless I'm missing something as I am doing these mostly from memory, has nobody linked with Newcastle that I can see.

The Netherlands on the other hand, is rife with players linked to Newcastle in one way or another. Most notably, again by his absence like Sandro Tonali for Italy, is Sven Botman who is recovering from ACL surgery and won't be available until the end of the year.

There are still plenty who are there who we can tie to Newcastle in some way, starting with Lutsharel Geertruida who was mentioned as a player Newcastle were interested in earlier this month. The 23-year-old Feyenoord captain is apparently on Newcastle's radar, so he'll be one to keep an eye on.

In the last couple of days it has been reported that Newcastle have been offered the chance to sign Matthijs De Ligt but we doubt that the Magpies will rise to the bait as he'd be a very expensive option.

Georginio Wijnaldum is the one former Magpie on display

Still in defence, we have Denzel Dumfries who was one of many right-backs linked with the club last summer before Tino Livramento was signed.

Into midfield and we've got a former Magpie in the form of Georginio Wijnaldum. It was clear when he was at Newcastle just how good he was, he stood head and shoulders above the rest of our squad which is why it wasn't long before he was taken away from us by Liverpool.

Ryan Gravenberch was on Newcastle's radar last summer before he made the move to Liverpool. In truth we never really looked like signing him as he only had eyes for Anfield.

Xavi Simons was linked with a move to Newcastle last year and his name has popped up again this year as Paris Saint-Germain seem intent to loan him out yet again, but Barcelona seems likely to be his next destination.

Finally, there's Joshua Zirkzee who is a name from the January transfer window with a few recent reports suggesting he's still being looked at by Newcastle.

There's plenty for us to keep an eye on in today's first game.