Chris Wood is in the Middle East _ only not for a much vaunted intensive bonding session with his new Newcastle United team-mates as might have been expected but to pursue his already well established international career with New Zealand.
Such a decision even surprises his international manager as well as raising a few eyebrows amongst the devoted back on Tyneside.
While United are undergoing a morale lifting get together in Saudi Arabia ahead of their death-or-glory bid to avoid relegation from the Premier League plotted by a determined new ownership, a player they splashed out £25m to bring here in an emergency is concentrating on what is happening next door in the United Arab Emirates.
