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

5. Mehdi Abeid

Abeid has not travelled to America either due to "fitness problems", seemingly having picked up a "soft-tissue knock" during pre-season training at Newcastle's Benton base.

Yet rumours have continued to circulate that Abeid has actually fallen out with head coach Steve McClaren, though WhatCultureNUFC understands this not to be the case.

Unfortunately for Abeid though, he faces a similar problem to both Cheick Tiote and Sylvain Marveaux in that he needs gametime in order to be able to really nail down a Newcastle starting place having been largely unfancied by both Alan Pardew and John Carver, but he will struggle to get it during the remainder of pre-season now.

As has already been mentioned, McClaren has promised that players will get a clean slate from which to prove themselves, but Abeid's contract is running down and, with the likes of Panathinaikos eager to take the Algerian back to Greece, the midfielder's time on Tyneside could now be coming close to ending.

Magpies supporters would love to see Abeid stay and fight for his place but the lack of potential gametime in pre-season makes that scenario appear increasingly unlikely.