Traditional Monday morning blues did not apply for Newcastle United's Patrick Nzuzi last week when the Toon's Academy starlets were joined for training by North East legend Paul Gascoigne.
Patrick recalls that they had been told by club coach Peter Beardsley that a ‘friend’ would be dropping by to take in the session and the youngsters were thrilled when it emerged that this was none other than the former England ace.
Speaking in his Blog for League Football Education, Patrick said: "Training was taken by Peter Beardsley who introduced us all to Gazza who just dropped in to join in training with us.
"Here I am almost still fresh out of school and I'm training with two legends of the game who have both played more England games than I have youth games as things stand! Unbelievable.
"Gazza was brilliant, he had us all in hysterics, joking and laughing around but as soon as the training got going he still showed us that you have to concentrate and apply yourself.
"The things that they can both still do on the ball just simply takes your breath away and I was left thinking about how good they actually were as players if this is them in retirement!
"I considered myself privileged and lucky to have been on the same training pitch to learn from two Newcastle and England legends."
To read more about life at Newcastle United's Academy visit Patrick's Blog at www.blog.lfe.org.uk
