EDDIE Howe believes Newcastle United are on the verge of seeing the very best of Joe Willock - but the head coach will remain patient with the former Arsenal midfielder.

Willock endured a rotten year last season, with the 24-year-old limited to just nine Premier League appearances because of hamstring and achilles problems.

But the midfielder is now close to a return, with Howe excited by what he's seen on the training pitches.

Willock is part of the squad in Japan, trained with the squad on Tuesday morning and could play some part in the games against Urawa Red Diamonds tomorrow or Saturday's friendly against Yokohama F. Marinos.

That will ultimately be decided by the club's medics and sports science staff, with Howe happy to be guided by the experts.

But once he's fully fit and up to match speed, Howe believes Willock can make a real impact for the Magpies this season.

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"Joe is close, he's training, he's training well," said Newcastle's head coach.

"He's done back to back days, he's done hard days. But of course training is different to a game. He's so close to being hopefully, from what I've seen, the best version of Joe Willock we've seen for a while physically.

"We just have to wait for the experts in terms of when we put him into a game."

Several of Howe's returning international stars will get crucial match minutes under their belt this week, with the head coach admitting training time will be limited in Tokyo and the focus is on the two games.

Bruno Guimaraes will feature for the first time in pre-season after linking up with the squad in Asia, while Miguel Almiron and Fabian Schar will also get their first taste of summer action.

But Anthony Gordon and Kieran Trippier - whose future remains uncertain amid transfer interest from Saudi - aren't due to report back for pre-season until next week.