ALTITUDE training combined with an afternoon of go-karting will be the less than conventional make up of Newcastle United’s pre-season training camp but defender Dan Burn is understanding the benefits of their trip to Austria.

The Magpies are currently stationed abroad for the next week while restoration work continues at the club’s Benton training centre as Eddie Howe puts his first-team squad through their paces. The players will also be receiving game time when they come up against German sides 1860 Munich and Mainz before they head to Portugal to face Benfica.

Howe’s side arrived earlier this week and dived straight into training sessions with Newcastle working away in mountainous regions near Salzburg where the players having been cycling to training but team bonding exercises were integrated into the schedule as they went through their paces in a different way.

The players raced against each other on the go-karting track with Ryan Fraser timing the best in the first-team squad. Newcastle’s newest signings Nick Pope and Sven Botman along with youngsters Elliot Anderson were all part of the team bonding exercise as the players get to know each other before the start of the season.

For homebird Burn, it the first time he has been on a pre-season tour for the club he supported as a boy. “The sessions have been tough. We’ve had double sessions but I think it’s what we need” said Burn.

“You’ve seen the way that the gaffer wants us to play and you need to be at his level of fitness so it has been tough but enjoyable.

“I think by the time the season comes around, you want to hit the ground running. It’s a shorter pre-season this year with the season starting earlier so I think it’s really important.

The Northern Echo: Newcastle United defender Dan BurnNewcastle United defender Dan Burn

“Working on togetherness with the lads. We’ve got a few new lads in and a couple of the young lads have come with us so having this amount of time to bond. We did go-karting which was a good laugh but those are the most important things.

“It’s just a different level and obviously being in Austria, at the moment we’re not really high up but that extra altitude has made the sessions really hard but as I said I think we need it as a squad.

“It’s the gaffer’s first pre-season with us so we really do want to hit the ground running next year.”

Newcastle’s take on 1860 Munich tomorrow afternoon with Pope and Botman expected to get their first run-outs for the club before facing Mainz on Monday.

While the players work their way through pre-season training, the club continue to add to their three permanent signings from earlier this summer.

The club are planning to make one final push for Bayern Leverkusen winger Moussa Diaby before the end of the window as they make him their number one target. Meanwhile, Everton manager Frank Lampard has categorically ruled out the sale of young starlet Anthony Gordon who was linked with a move to Tyneside last week.

Real Sociedad forward Alexander Isak and Cheslea striker Armando Broja are also being considered as genuine targets for the club.