Kluivert understandably looked short of match fitness after spending the whole of his country’s Euro 2004 campaign on the bench, but he insisted he would be ready for the trip to the Riverside Stadium on August 14.

“Yes, yes, I will be fit,” he said. “I know that I’m not 100% still, but now I’m going to train only with the team and we are playing more games.

“In the first five days, I ran a lot, but that’s for the basic conditioning. Now the most important thing for me is to play and train with the team.”

Kluivert will get another chance to blow away the cobwebs when Newcastle head for Celtic on Wednesday having already disposed of the Bhoys’ Old Firm rivals Rangers in a 4-2 victory at St James’ Park on Saturday.

The former Barcelona star watched that game from the stands as captain Alan Shearer and Craig Bellamy each got their names on the scoresheet.

However, he was given his chance as a 60th-minute replacement for Shearer yesterday, and although he eased his way into the game, there were glimpses of the quality in which Sir Bobby Robson and his chairman Freddy Shepherd have invested so much faith.

Kluivert was given a delirious welcome by the home fans, who will hope he can fill Shearer’s boots on a full-time basis when the 33-year-old heads into retirement next summer.

“It was a different feeling,” he said. “If you’re playing six years for Barcelona and then you have a different jersey, it’s different, but it felt good.

“The reception – I can say it a thousand times, for a player, it’s the best. The reception was terrific.

“We have a few things to do because not the whole team was playing, but I’m feeling very good.”

Kluivert’s first run-out was alongside Shola Ameobi, who is one of nine first-teamers currently laid low, although the former Ajax player faces the task of acclimatising himself also with Shearer and Bellamy.

“I know that they’re strikers of high class and sure, I’m impressed – I hope also that they’re impressed with me,” he said.

“As long as you train together, you get an understanding with the other players. That’s the most important thing, that you get that understanding.

“It’s difficult to say something about the partnership because it’s the first time that I’ve played with Shola, and it would be the same if Alan and I would have played. But the feeling and the first impression were good.”