Colback excited for busy Newcastle pre-season

The midfielder switched to St James' Park on a Bosman transfer from bitter rivals Sunderland last month.

Alan Pardew's side will travel to New Zealand and Germany in their pre-season campaign, but Colback is looking forward to the hard work that lies ahead.

He told the club's official website: "It's been good, it's nice to be back. The lads have been great and very welcoming.

"It's good to have a lot of games to play - that's where you're going to get your fitness and your match sharpness and start getting a feel for the game again, which you maybe lose a touch from being off for so long.

"But it's good that we've got the weeks broken up with a lot of games.

"Obviously every game you play, if it's a friendly or not, you want to win and have a positive result, but we also need to show that we're gelling as a team and improving as a team.

"I think the manager and the staff will probably first and foremost look at performance and fitness, and if we're doing what they're asking of us then the results will come."