Newcastle stars pictured back for pre-season ahead of Darlington clash

Newcastle United have returned to training today, Monday 13th July, to get their pre-season preparations underway.

Those players who weren't involved in the World Cup gathered at The KNOX on Monday to get started on preparations for the new season.

The group appeared to be in good spirits as they were filmed turning up for training, with new signing Sean Steur spotted amongst the arrivals.

A smiling Joelinton and Joe Willock, along with Sven Botman and Fabian Schar, were also filmed arriving at the new-look training ground.

Tino Livramento is back in training

On the official website, there were several photos of the players being put through their paces in the first training session and amongst the images was a shot of Tino Livramento wearing the new training gear with KNOX Hydrate on the sleeve, another part of the huge deal with the South Africa-based company.

Livramento did, of course, report for duty with England at the World Cup, but before a ball was kicked, he had to return home due to injury.

It was a big blow for Tino, but he's back home now and reunited with his best mate Lewis Hall.

Newcastle will play Darlington on Saturday

Newcastle will take on Darlington in a behind-closed-doors friendly at the weekend.

Gateshead will provide the first test in front of fans on the 25th July at Gateshead Stadium.

We aren't sure when the World Cup participants will return, whether they are all expected to return at the same time or if it depends on when they exited the competition.

However, it would be nice if Bruno Guimrães could cut his break short to come back and sort out his future.