£39m Newcastle man vows to give fans what they deserve next season after rocky start to Toon career

 · August 5 2024, 20:00
£39m Newcastle man vows to give fans what they deserve next season after rocky start to Toon career
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Last summer Eddie Howe made a couple of big signings for Newcastle United and perhaps the two biggest, certainly the two most expensive, hardly played for the club all season.

Sandro Tonali came in for over £50 million and just 12 games into his Newcastle career was walloped with a 10-month ban from all football for breaches of betting rules.

Meanwhile, the second most expensive signing of the summer was Harvey Barnes who cost £39 million from relegated Leicester City and the winger picked up an injury early in the season that would keep him out for months.

Heading into this season, though, Tonali will return from his ban and Harvey Barnes has promised that the Newcastle fans haven't seen the best of him yet.

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Harvey Barnes sporting his new shirt number

Harvey Barnes says we ain't seen nothin' yet

We have seen glimpses of what Barnes can do. His finishing looks superb, but we're yet to really see what he can do as an actual winger in terms of assists.

Barnes has been speaking to inews giving a very frank interview about the last 12 months and his injury nightmare.

“Last year was up and down, it obviously wasn’t the start [at Newcastle] I was hoping for.

“[I had] the injury and then it took longer than I thought to get back, which is always frustrating. When you come into a new club, you’re always desperate to make a good impression but the injury stalled that.

“There were glimpses when I came back but it can sometimes be tough when you’re not playing regularly, you’re in and out of the team and your fitness probably isn’t 100 per cent, then you’re never really going to see the best of a player and I definitely think Newcastle fans haven’t seen the best of me yet.”
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Barnes has the misfortune of having to fight Anthony Gordon for his place

Barnes has been given plenty of minutes in pre-season so far by Eddie Howe and we will expect we see a lot more of him next season.

However, he's not really looked up to pace yet. We genuinely feared for his health seeing him out in Japan, he had a heed like Alan Brazil. The heat clearly doesn't suit him.

As an impact sub, Newcastle have nobody better, but we're sure that's not the role Barnes has envisioned for himself. Unfortunately for him, his competition is Anthony Gordon and he's simply too good to drop.

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