Vurnon Anita is confident that Newcastle United can bounce back from last season's aberration.

The Magpies endured a torrid campaign, first under Alan Pardew and then John Carver, to narrowly escape relegation from the Premier League.

Already it has been a positive summer for the Toon following the appointment of Steve McClaren as manager and more recently in the form of the signing of Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum from PSV Eindhoven.

Newcastle midfielder Anita knows Wijnaldum well from their time spent at youth level for Holland and is backing the 24-year-old to help lift the morale at St James' Park during the 2015/16 season.

"Gini is a very good player and a very good person as well," Anita told the Chronicle from the pre-season tour of the USA.

"Technically he is very good and can score goals.

"We all know last year was not good.

"We must build a better team now. The team must be stronger for the fans and everybody in Newcastle."