Newcastle United have seemingly confirmed the squad number of new signing Park Seung-soo.
It’s been a summer of one disaster after another for Newcastle United, with a string of missed-out-on targets being compounded by Alexander Isak’s desire to leave the club.
That was all laid bare in the pre-season friendly against Arsenal, in which William Osula had to play 73 minutes in the Singapore humidity, far more than any other of Eddie Howe’s outfielders.
Osula impressed with his work ethic but the lack of signings continues to haunt Newcastle just three weeks ahead of the new Premier League season getting underway.
Anthony Elanga did at least score on his first start and the other new signing on the pre-season tour, Park Seung-soo, has now seemingly been assigned a squad number.
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Newcastle United hand Park Seung-soo his new kit number
Though he didn’t get on the field, Park, the second South Korean to ever sign for Newcastle after Ki Sung-yueng, was named on the bench.
As a result, it appears that his new squad number has been confirmed, with Park being assigned No.64 at the club.
Unsurprisingly, the number isn’t a prestigious one in the history of Newcastle. In fact, it’s only ever been assigned to one other player.
Local defender Jeff Henderson was given the shirt in 2011 but never made a senior appearance for the club.
Park will be hoping to become the first No.64 to play in Newcastle’s history but his chances of doing so this year are slim.
How Newcastle United performed in friendly defeat to Arsenal
Newcastle have suffered a second defeat in a row in pre-season, taking their losing streak to four matches after they were beaten by Arsenal and Everton in their final two games last season.
The losses hardly help morale, as it feels like the Magpies have gone backwards this summer when they were supposed to be kicking on after securing Champions League football.
But there were at least some promising signs against Arsenal, which was a much better performance than the limp 4-0 defeat to Celtic.
Elanga was sharp and his speed will come in very handy on the counter. Osula, Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes all look hungry to impress, too.
Yet, there were a few negatives. Nick Pope’s contribution continues to be a problem, Joelinton was miles off the pace and Sven Botman has suffered another injury.
There’s still a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.
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