Tottenham Hotspur star set for first St James’ Park visit since Newcastle United humiliation

Newcastle United’s St James’ Park hosts its second Saudi Arabia national team friendly this evening.

The Magpies - 80 per-cent owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia - have opened its doors to Roberto Mancini’s side during the international break. They lost 3-1 to Costa Rica on Friday evening but are hoping for a better result against South Korea tonight.

It will, however, be a challenge for Mancini’s players, who all play their club football in the Saudi Pro League. South Korea, meanwhile, boasts the likes of Tottenham Hotspur’s Heung-Min Son, Bayern Munich’s Min-Jae Kim, Wolvers’ Hee-Chan Hwang as well as Ui-Jo Hwang and Ji Soo Kim of Nottingham Forest and Brentford, respectively.

For Son in particular, tonight will mark the first time he has returned to Tyneside since suffering a 6-1 defeat with Spurs in April. Jacob Murphy (twice), Joelinton, Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson were all on the scoresheet as United took a huge step towards sealing Champions League qualification.

While that covers matters on the pitch, Newcastle’s decision to host two Saudi Arabia matches has come under scrutiny on a wider front. Protest group NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing held a small protest outside St James’ Park citing the Gulf Kingdom’s human rights record prior to the Costa Rica game.

Yasser Al Misehal, the president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, was made aware of the protest but insists the focus is purely on football with the club’s Chief Commerical Officer Peter Silverstone going on record to say the aim is to make Newcastle the most followed side in Saudi Arabia.

Although there are obvious ties to Saudi Arabia through United’s PIF ownership, Al Misehal says the invite arrived directly from Chief Executive Officer Darren Eales.

“We were given the opportunity to come to Newcastle,” Al Misehal told talkSPORT. “We got a nice invitation letter at the beginning of the year from the CEO of the club [Darren Eales] through the British Embassy in Riyadh to start the co-operation and maybe some programmes to help, particularly, our women’s national team.

“Our technical team met with Newcastle and they explored the opportunities. It’s a very good location for us and for the players. To be honest, we have not spoken to any person at PIF about this yet. it was directly with the CEO of the club.

“Having the PIF as an independent authority owning the biggest shares of the club is something very positive for both sides. One of the objectives is to promote the fan base of Newcastle in Saudi Arabia, especially at this stage.

“A lot of other English clubs maybe have a larger fan base in Saudi so having the Saudi national team playing at St James’ Park is a very useful tool.”