Newcastle United have been making the most of 'world-class facilities' during their warm-weather training camp in Saudi Arabia while the club's training base continues to be upgraded back home.
The Magpies landed in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Sunday for a mini pre-season ahead of the campaign restarting following the World Cup break. The trip has given Eddie Howe the opportunity to put his squad through their paces in the heat - temperatures are due to hit 25C on Tuesday morning - before the travelling party return to Benton next week.
The players trained at the Al Hilal Saudi Club Stadium on Monday and have made use of the gym and pitch on site before taking on Al Hilal, the Saudi Pro League champions, on Thursday. Howe has already hailed these facilities as 'world-class' at a time when the club's own training ground is being modernised.
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Although Newcastle plan to build a new state of the art base in the future, the Magpies decided to upgrade their current training ground after acknowledging the standards of the facility fell 'significantly below the Premier League and perhaps even Championship standards'. Among the new features which will be added to the existing building are hydrotherapy and plunge pools, improved dressing rooms, new doctor and physio rooms, an updated presentation room, a modern players' lounge and an extended dining area.
After previously getting changed in three different rooms while the work was carried out earlier this season, which was far from ideal, the players moved into their new-look dressing room last month. Speaking back in October, Howe said he hoped to see further 'benefits in a few weeks'.
Howe, himself, has had an input in the plans in a bid to create an environment that will flow better and allow players and staff to interact easier after the previous version of the facility felt a bit like a maze at times with various short-term additions made over the years. As obvious as it sounds - just to take one example - new doctor and physio rooms will be located next to the players' area and the coaching staff's offices.
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