Newcastle United confirm key squad number changes for 2023-24 season with Sandro Tonali update
Newcastle United have confirmed Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon’s squad numbers ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Tonali initially wore the No. 20 shirt in his first pre-season outing at Rangers before switching to the No. 8 shirt for the Premier League Summer Series. Anthony Gordon wore the No. 8 shirt following his arrival from Everton in January last season but switched to the No. 10 shirt in the United States ahead of Allan Saint-Maximin’s imminent departure to Al Ahli.
Now Newcastle have confirmed that those numbers will remain for the 2023-24 campaign with Tonali donning the No. 8 shirt and Gordon wearing No. 10.
Tonali became Newcastle’s first major signing of the summer transfer window as he joined from AC Milan for £52million, an Italian record. The 23-year-old midfielder has since played in three pre-season friendly matches and will get a taste of St James’ Park for the first time in the Sela Cup this weekend.
Both Tonali and Gordon are set to feature in the pre-season tournament which will see Newcastle face Fiorentina and Villarreal on consecutive days. Head coach Eddie Howe will field two seperate line-ups for the matches on Saturday and Sunday, giving the majority of his players the opportunity to play as close to 90 minutes as possible ahead of the new Premier League season.
New signing Harvey Barnes has been wearing the No. 15 shirt so far in pre-season and that will remain the case for the 2023-24 season.
Newcastle’s No. 21 from the 2022-23 campaign, Ryan Fraser, has not been given a squad number ahead of the new season after being frozen out of the first-team set-up.
Newcastle’s league campaign gets under way on August 12 against Aston Villa at St James’ Park (5:30pm kick-off).
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Newcastle United defender Harrison Ashby is set to join Swansea City on loan in time for the 2023-24 Championship opener against Birmingham City on Saturday.
After joining Newcastle from West Ham United in January, Ashby failed to make a single first-team appearance during his first half season at the club but has made several friendly outings so far this pre-season. The right-back came off the bench to score the winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Rangers at Ibrox last month.
Swans head coach Michael Duff has confirmed Ashby is ‘in the door’ at the club but they are still waiting to officially confirm the deal and register the player ahead of their season opener.
“Harrison Ashby’s in the door,” Duff said. “We’re just waiting for the registration to be signed off.
“We wanted him in 10 days ago, but he’s ultimately Newcastle’s player, so we’re at the hands of other people sometimes.
“We’re hoping he’ll be available for selection on Saturday.”
EFL rules state a player must be registered at 12 noon the working day before any given matchday in order to be eligible to play. So Swansea must officially complete the loan signing of Ashby by noon on Friday, August 4 in order for him to be available for the Championship opener.
