Serbia v England: 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.

We're not going just to assume that every Newcastle fan who reads this is English so we'll cover England just like any other Nation, with perhaps a shade more bias.

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Newcastle fans get to watch Mitrovic in action again

Serbia have a few players connected with Newcastle kicking off with their powerhouse midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who was linked to the Toon relentlessly last summer and again in January of this year. Milinkovic-Savic rejected Newcastle in the summer to move to PIF-owned Al-Hilal, then during Newcastle's injury crisis the media suggested that the Magpies would use their PIF connections to green light a loan move that never happened.

Dusasn Vlahovic was another name from last summer with the Juventus striker linked with several Premier League sides, but he remains at The Old Lady and those links have died down despite having a decent season with Juve.

Finally for Serbia is some guy named Aleksandar Mitrovic who some of you might remember as the heed the ball striker Newcastle had who came to St James' Park spouting about his love of Alan Shearer and winning over the hearts of the Newcastle fans straight away. Unfortunately for us, his best goalscoring days came in the black and white of Fulham rather than our own. He now plays in the Saudi Pro League for Al-Hilal along with fellow countryman Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.

Newcastle and Eddie Howe love an English player

Unsurprisingly there are plenty of links to England's players and I've probably missed a few tenuous ones but here are the main ones.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford absolutely loves Newcastle United, particularly St James' Park and of course the Newcastle fans. He sleeps in a black and white bed and hates Sunderland.

Aaron Ramsdale is still being linked with Newcastle despite the move for James Trafford, we imagine that the Ramsdale stories will cease completely when Trafford signs.

Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi was on Newcastle's radar back in January when our defensive situation was desperate. He still remains on the list, but whether we make a move remains to be seen.

Newcastle's very own Kieran Trippier who captained his nation at St James' Park recently is likely to start at left-back for the Three Lions tonight, and hopefully won't be the only Newcastle player representing England.

Anthony Gordon - first name on the teamsheet for us - not biased at all

Chelsea's Conor Gallagher is a link that just won't go away. We wish it would, how he's even in the England squad is beyond me. He has three or four good games a season and other than that he is bang average. Do. Not. Want.

Newcastle missed out on the signing of Blackburn prospect Adam Wharton who opted for Crystal Palace and has been phenomenal for the Eagles, and now rightfully finds himself in Gareth Southgate's squad.

Former Magpie Ivan Toney backed himself to make the squad and it turned out to be a good bet. (Sorry). Toney keeps being mentioned as a target for Newcastle but there's more chance of him going to Arsenal we reckon.

For us, Anthony Gordon should be a nailed-on starter for England based purely on how well he's done and how hard he's grafted this season. He's also looked the most dangerous player on the pitch in his three caps so far.

Newcastle and Aston Villa were both looking at Callum Wilson and Ollie Watkins in 2020 and it was almost a coin toss as to which one would end up where.

West Ham's Jarrod Bowen almost signed for Newcastle under Steve Bruce and is once again linked with a move to St James' Park. We'd absolutely love it if we signed him. LOVE IT! But we can't see it happening.