The Newcastle Jets have departed on a tour of Spain, as part of the club’s rigorous pre-season schedule, featuring an intensive training camp and three friendly fixtures.
Based out of Murcia, Ernie Merrick’s side will train at the Pinatar Arena Football Centre.
The training base offers state-of-the-art facilities and has been frequented by some of the world’s leading clubs including Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle United and Lyon.
Following their arrival and acclimatisation, the Jets will face off with Cartagena FC from Spain’s Segunda Division on Saturday 28 July.
The biggest clash of the 11-day tour comes against La Liga outfit, Getafe CF – who finished 8th in Spain’s premier competition last season.
The tour will finish with a clash against Real Murcia, another outfit from the Segunda Division on Friday 3 August.
Jets boss, Ernie Merrick said the tour would be another tough test for his side early in the pre-season.
“We had an excellent tour to China with a younger group of players and this will be another opportunity for us to test ourselves against some quality teams,” Merrick said.
“It’s an outstanding tour the club has arranged and the first time a (Hyundai) A-League side has travelled to Spain to take on La Liga opposition.
“There’s no doubt we’ll get plenty out of this trip and I think it will prove to be a great experience for the boys as we look ahead to this season.”
Dimi Petratos has re-joined his team-mates following an extended holiday break after the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Ronald Vargas will meet the team in Spain.
Merrick added that the entire squad would see minutes during the friendly fixtures.
“We’re still working our way into pre-season and we’ll continue to manage the players workloads,” Merrick added.
“In saying that, the conditions will be warm and our training sessions will be tough, we want to get as much as possible from this trip.
Key members of Merrick’s squad will be carefully managed, with the Jets scheduled to play their Round of 32 FFA Cup game on Tuesday 7 August on the Gold Coast – just two days after returning from Spain.
“We made application to the FFA some months before the fixtures were announced, but unfortunately they weren’t able to accommodate our request.
“It’s made things a little more difficult, but that’s the nature of football and something the players will need to become accustom to if we quality for the Asian Champions League.”
Fixtures:
Saturday 28 July
Newcastle Jets vs Cartagena FC
Pinatar Arena Football Centre
Kick-off: 7pm (local) 3am (29/8 – AEST)
Wednesday 1 August
Newcastle Jets vs Gatafe CF
Pinatar Arena Football Centre
Kick-off: 7pm (local) 3am (2/8 – AEST)
Friday 3 August
Newcastle Jets vs Real Murcia
Pinatar Arena Football Centre
Kick-off: 7pm (local) 3am (4/8 – AEST)
Unfortunately the matches are unable to be live-streamed, but you can keep up with all the action on the club’s Twitter @newcastlejetsfc.
The Newcastle Jets pre-season tour of Spain has been made possible by the Genova International School of Soccer.
