Mehrdad Ghodoussi has witnessed 'one of the best training arenas in the world' up close as Newcastle United's owners continue to do their homework ahead of building a new facility.
Ghodoussi has travelled with players and staff to Dubai for a week-long training camp and the part-owner watched the squad being put through their paces at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex on Tuesday morning. While Ghodoussi flew out to support the team, the added bonus of this trip is that the part-owner can see what an elite training base looks with his own eyes.
As well as having a quality pitch, the state of the art facility also boasts a swimming pool and altitude, hyperbaric and cryotherapy chambers. Players and staff do not have access to these sorts of options back at Benton and the club's owners plan on designing and building a new training ground in the coming years to potentially incorporate some of these features.
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Newcastle are currently looking at sites for an all-encompassing facility that would house the first team, academy and women's team. The owners have certainly been doing their due diligence and Amanda Staveley has visited Man City's training base to see what Newcastle could potentially do in the future.
Like Staveley, you can be sure that Ghodoussi will have taken notes about what he saw in Dubai. Howe previously visited the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex with Bournemouth on a number of occasions and the Newcastle head coach rated the facility as 'one of the best training arenas in the world'
"It's just nice to expose the players to that," he told NUFC TV. "When you want to really push the players hard physically, you need to have the highest level of recovery equipment to utilise and we have that here and the gym, which hopefully everyone will see pictures of, and the swimming pool.
"Also, it's not only a way for the lads to work but to talk in a different environment and it does stimulate new friendships. I'm a firm believer in that.
"These periods when you're away, new friendships can form and it can bring the group closer together. There's natural benefits that really help the team."
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