Dutch International Defender Flies Into Newcastle

PSV Eindhoven's Jetro Willems flew from Holland to Tyneside in order to support his close friend Georginio Wijnaldum as he made his Newcastle United debut, according to the Shields Gazette.

The 21-year-old, who represented the Netherlands during the 2012 European Championships, watched his former teammate and close friend score in front of the Gallowgate End as the Magpies drew 2-2 against Southampton in their first game of the season.

Willems posted a photograph of himself on board a flight to Newcastle on Instagram the day before the match and cryptically wrote: "Fly to the future".

Wijnaldum was overwhelmed by the atmosphere at St James' Park during his Premier League debut - and promised he "wants to score more goals and make action" for Newcastle United this season following his opening strike for the club.

The 24-year-old - who alongside Willems helped PSV Eindhoven to win the Eredivisie title last season - was denied a dream debut despite putting Newcastle 2-1 up with a magnificent header in the second-half after Shane Long equalised for Southampton in the 79th minute.

Speaking after the game on Sunday, Wijnaldum told Sky Sports:

"(I enjoyed it) very much today because I already was looking forward to playing the game today and I had read a lot of good stories about the fans and the atmosphere here in the stadium and today I see it with my own eyes and I like it. I enjoyed the game.

"Yes it is harder (physically in the Premier League) than the Dutch League but I like it also.

"It is a really good start (for me) and that's why I wanted to celebrate the goal with the fans. I think it's great if you can score on your debut - but yeah it's sad that we don't (didn't) win the game.

"First I want to play good games - I want to score goals, make action and show how good I am. As a team we must win a lot of games to rank higher than we did last year so that's what I want to do. I want to show the people how good I can play football."

Willems has represented Holland 15 times at senior level and is known for his excellent crossing and set-pieces.