7 Players Left Out Of Newcastle's USA Squad - What's It Mean For Their Futures?

7. Cheick Tiote

The Ivorian was supposed to be on the plane across to the USA, but the official line is that Tiote's visa application was rejected and that Newcastle were unable to get it resolved before the start of the tour.

Allegedly Tiote's past criminal convictions - he was given a seven-month suspended jail sentence and 180 hours' worth of community service back in October 2013 after admitting holding a fake driving licence - prevented him getting into the US.

Magpies head coach Steve McClaren said of Tiote's absence:

"He has had visa complications and trying to get him over the visa issue has been difficult, but it wasn't successful.

"He is training back home (on Tyneside)."

Tiote's future has been the source of much speculation so far this summer - with reports of a move to Russia or Turkey rife - but, at the very least for now, he remains a Newcastle United footballer.

Now training by himself on Tyneside, Tiote's preparation for the start of the 2015-16 campaign will hardly be helped by his inability to play in any of their three tour matches in the US.

Notorious for being a player who needs several games to get himself into the groove, Tiote could well find himself stuck down the pecking order at St James' Park and unable to string together a decent number of starts - even if he does have a positive personal history with McClaren, having helped the ex-FC Twente boss to the Eredivisie title.

Despite his absence, it is unlikely that this will be the last we ever see of Tiote.