EDDIE Howe is glad to have the bulk of his Newcastle United squad back together for the trip to Japan and hopes some key figures get their first taste of summer action in the two friendlies in Asia in the coming days.

The Magpies continued their preparations for the coming campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory away at Championship side Hull City on Saturday, with Alexander Isak and Jacob Murphy getting the goals.

All of Howe's available senior stars started at the MKM Stadium, with the bench packed with young players.

Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock and Lloyd Kelly were all deemed not fit enough to start the game and stayed on Tyneside to train, while the friendly came too soon for Miguel Almiron and Fabian Schar, who reported back for pre-season at the end of the week after an extended break.

All of those players will travel to Japan, where they'll also be joined by Bruno Guimaraes and Martin Dubravka. Newcastle's England duo Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier still have another week off to rest and recover after the European Championships before the link back up with the Magpies, though there remains uncertainty over Trippier's Newcastle future. He's currently on holiday in Dubai, where he posted a picture alongside Al-Ettifaq chief scout Tom Spring on Saturday night. It comes amid fresh talk of Trippier leaving Newcastle for Saudi this summer.

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Newcastle face Urawa Red Diamonds on Wednesday before taking on Yokohama F. Marinos next Saturday.

"The trip will be based around the two games we have, really," said Howe.

"Minimal training but the games take more prominence as you go deeper into pre-season. I'm looking forward to seeing how the team gels, getting the international players back and a bigger group back. Hopefully two really good performances and then we go into really the final part."

One player who won't travel is Callum Wilson, with the striker recovering after a minor back procedure. He's expected to miss the start of the season but Howe hopes to soon have the 32-year-old back in action.

"Callum had an injection in his back," said the head coach.

"Without going into too much detail on the injury, he had a bulge in his disc which needed treatment. So he had that operation and he may miss the start of the season. Thankfully there are not too many games at the start of the season, we're sort of week to week, so hopefully he won't miss too many."