Newcastle invited to United States tour next pre-season

Newcastle United will take part in a pre-season tournament to be held in America involving six Premier League teams at the end of July, according to Dan Sheldon of The Athletic ($).

Earlier this year, the media outlet had already reported about the presence of Chelsea in the supposed tournament as one of the main clubs involved in the organization of the friendly tourney.

Chelsea are reportedly going to be joined by Newcastle along with Brighton and Leeds—assuming they remain in the Premier League and avoid relegation by the end of the 2022-23 season.

While nothing is set in stone yet, The Athletic acknowledges that “plans are gradually coming together” while informing that the tournament is expected to be scheduled for “the end of July.”

Last May, a Todd Boehly-led consortium acquired Chelsea, which makes sense in the context of this tournament to be organized on American soil considering the origin of the Blues' new owners. That, added to the fact that Brighton and Newcastle are currently sitting in European-qualifying places, adds to the appeal of organizing this friendly competition.

According to the information obtained by The Athletic, the tournament would feature “a series of round-robin friendlies” and those matches will be played “on the east coast of the US,” namely in “Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New Jersey.”

The tournament is, according to The Athletic, “part of the Premier League’s drive for further global expansion.”

With the 2022 World Cup still fresh in our collective brain but no international tournaments this summer, the intentions of all parts involved is to keep American folks entertained and invested in soccer while they wait for the organization of the 2026 edition of the World Cup, staged to be hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States.