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The Newcastle United press room wasn’t at full capacity for the Magpies’ final friendly of pre-season against Augsburg on Saturday.

But there were still more journalists than normal for a fixture of this nature, and the club will now need to make extra arrangements for the rest of the season after the arrivals of Ki Sung-yueng and Yoshinori Muto this summer.

Indeed, suddenly Newcastle are big news in the Far East and every move of the new Toon duo will be followed by journalists from South Korea and Japan throughout the campaign.

It may have only been a warm-up game ahead of the new Premier League campaign but three football writers from Japan were present on Saturday and four made the journey from South Korea.

Muto wasn’t in action for the 1-0 defeat to Augsburg with his paperwork still being processed at that stage.

(Image: Newcastle United)

However, that didn’t prevent journalists from Japan arriving to do their homework and get a feel for St James’ Park.

For a long time, the Magpies have tried to boost their profile further afield from Tyneside.

Managing director Lee Charnley and the club’s commercial unit flew to the Far East to make contacts in March 2017 and returned with a new sponsor in Fun 88.

The Premier League is a global ball game anyway these days but now there will be special emphasis on Newcastle in two football made countries in South Korea and Japan.

Japanese football writer Kosuke Tajima told me on Saturday: “The attention to what happens at Newcastle United is getting higher in Japan after Muto joined here.

“I think you can expect to see four or five Japanese journalists to cover each Newcastle game this season.”

(Image: Newcastle United)

With Muto not around on Saturday, it was left to Rafa Benitez to field questions on his new striker, but the 26-year-old is likely to be a popular man in the mixed zone - the area journalists conduct their interviews after games - throughout the 2018/19 season.

Both Muto and Ki are media friendly and speak perfect English.

Muto picked up an economics degree at Keio University and has a good rapport with the media in Japan.

When asked to explain what type of character Muto is, Kosuke said: “He is a very good guy.

“He always smiles and is very intelligent.

“He has a really positive attitude.”

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And when talking about what type of player Newcastle fans can expect to see this season, Kosuke said: “He has played as a centre-forward at Mainz 05.

“But he can play in the wide area on both sides.

“In the Japanese national team, he played up front at the World Cup and used to play as a winger.

“He is fast, and a hard worker who has good dribbling skills

“He can be the driving force for the teams he plays for.

“Last season at Mainz he scored eight goals.”

Muto’s flight to the UK to sign for Newcastle was quickly picked up by the Japanese media when he was asked how many goals he aimed to score in the Premier League.

Muto stated that he’d be aiming for 10 and to look to improve his tally from last term in the Bundesliga.

But for Muto, he is getting the chance to play in the league of his dreams in England.

Mainz director of sport Rouven Schroeder sanctioned his exit because he felt this was an unmissable opportunity for the ex-Tokyo FC striker.

Earlier in his career, he was wanted by Chelsea in 2015.

Much was made about the commercial benefits of the Blues signing Muto, but for Benitez, the 26-year-old is here because he feels he can make the team better.

Benitez told a member of the Japanese media on Saturday: “I have said before we are looking at players who can increase competition.

“He has great spirit and works hard.

“He creates chances and defends well from the top.”

Benitez knows what has been said about Muto’s 10-goal target too, and casually dropped in a line about his tally this season.

With a smile, he said: “Hopefully he will score goals for us.

“Maybe he is not a player that will score 20 goals for us every year but maybe next year he can do it.

“He’s somebody who has a great attitude.”

There have been a few negatives at United during pre-season but it’s clear that Muto isn’t one of them.

He can thrive under Benitez and as the player himself has already stated he can’t wait to meet fans at St James’ Park.

A warm welcome now awaits the new centre-forward for this weekend’s game against Tottenham Hotspur.