Town end their week-long training camp when they face Austrian Bundesliga side Blau-Weiß Linz at their Hofmann Personal Stadion on Saturday evening (KO 5pm UK time, 6pm local time).

It’s the third year that the Blues have staged their annual training camp in Austria, each time at a different venue.

This summer Town have been based at a sports complex owned by lower division side SV Windischgarsten.

Saturday’s match will be Town’s second of pre-season, Peterborough United having visited Playford Road for a behind closed doors game last Saturday, Posh, who are further advanced in their preparations for 2025/26, winning 1-0.

Blau-Weiß Linz, who finished sixth in their division last season, are also further through their pre-season with Saturday’s match their fourth friendly.

They were beaten 1-0 at home, although not at their stadium, by Czech title holders Slavia Prague on July 5th, then drew 2-2 with Serbian champions Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) at Windischgarsten, where Town have been training, four days later.

Last Saturday, they defeated Town’s old friends Fortuna Düsseldorf at FC Hertha Wels’s HUBER Arena, which is just to the west of Linz, Austria’s third-biggest city.

The Blues are likely to field a different XI in each half, as is common at this stage of pre-season.

Skipper Sam Morsy, who is completing his move to Kuwait SC, and Omari Hutchinson, who was given an extended break having been with the victorious England U21s squad at the Euros, are among those not with the squad.

Wes Burns is continuing his rehab from his ACL, while Aro Muric also may not be involved as he returns from shoulder surgery.

Chieo Ogbene and Jaden Philogene have both been pictured training with their teammates and look set to play some part following, respectively, their achilles and MCL injuries.

New signings Cedric Kipre and Azor Matusiwa will play their first games in Town shirts, while David Button is one of a number of keepers with the squad and so may not be involved.

Youngsters Leon Ayinde and Finley Barbrook have both been spotted in the footage released by the club over the course of the week and are likely to get minutes. You can read a TWTD blog on who might feature for the Austrian side here.

As suggested by their name, Blau-Weiß Linz also wear blue and white, so there could be an early outing for Town’s red away strip.

The game is being shown live on TownTV with match passes available for £4.99 here. TWTD will be in Austria reporting on the game and giving the post-match reaction.

Photo: Action Images

dirtydingusmagee added 10:15 - Jul 19 Perhaps when done we will get some good news re a striker, been very undewelming transfer window so far.
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blues1 added 12:34 - Jul 19 Dirtydingusmcgee. How has it been an underwhelming window. It's not as if we needed to sign loads of players. Bcse thexsquad already strong from last year. Was inevitable a few would leave, but even now, we only need 2 or max 3 more to come in.And thst doesn't mean I'd like to see more. Shouldn't think Mckenna,would want as big a squad as we had last season. Much more difficult to keep so many happy, in the championship. But we didnt need a big window this season. But yes, ur right, some news on a striker would be good

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Linkboy13 added 13:07 - Jul 19 This squad is stronger than the squad that got promoted last time. As for pre season friendlies they are meaningless as we found out last season we beat a couple of big teams and we all know what happened after that. Having been through the rigours of preseason training i never looked forward to the first game your legs are tired and it was always a relief to get it out of the way. So if we lose today i won't be having a hissy fit like some on here saying we need this player and that player it's just preparation for the new season.

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Mark added 15:42 - Jul 19 We will be really hoping Hirst or Matusiwa do not get injured in pre-season. It feels like we are very reliant on those two.
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