The Harvey Barnes conundrum…or is it? | OneFootball

Harvey Barnes scored at Brentford ahead of the November international break.

Now coming out of that international fortnight, the former Leicester winger with another two goals, as United defeated Manchester City.

That make it five goals in the last seven Newcastle United matches for Harvey Barnes, in all competitions.

The winger having also scored twice in the Champions League victory over Benfica.

In all competitions, Harvey Barnes now with eight starts and six goals in all competitions this season.

The question then, for many Newcastle United fans, is how can Eddie Howe possibly leave Harvey Barnes out of his starting eleven???

Well, for starters, he has four wingers in total, who each can offer something different- Harvey Barnes competing with Anthony Gordon, Anthony Elanga and Jacob Murphy.

Whilst I certainly would never be disappointed to see Harvey Barnes named in the Newcastle United starting eleven, I think there is a conundrum.

As in, I believe that in general terms, over the course of however many matches, there is an argument that you get far more out of Harvey Barnes playing him off the bench for the final 30 minutes of games, than you get from him regularly playing him the first 60+ minutes of matches.

Ironically, it was kind of a bit of both on Saturday against Manchester City, as Harvey Barnes scored twice after the hour mark, though having also played the first 60 minutes and wasted two glaring chances.

However, his all round game was good yesterday, something which has been claimed not to be the case by some during his career.

His real superpower of course is his finishing.

Back when Newcastle United signed Harvey Barnes

Despite the Leicester City relegation at the end of the 2022/23 season, Harvey Barnes still scored 13 Premier League goals from his wing position and was top scorer for the club, 13 goals from 32 PL starts is mighty impressive when you consider how poor Leicester were overall.

Back then in summer 2023, I remember most Leicester fans were quick to praise the quality of Harvey Barnes and how good he had been for the Foxes.

However, a sizeable minority were keen to claim that; “All Harvey Barnes does is…score and create goals!”

This is his Premier League record these last six and a bit Premier League seasons.

From the start of the 2019/20 Premier League season onwards, the first four for Leicester and then two and a bit for NUFC.

My only surprise is how surprised so many people are, at just how good and productive Harvey Barnes has been!

2019/20 Premier League (Leicester City)

14 Direct Goal involvements (6 goals and 8 assists) – 2,094 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 149 minutes

2020/21 Premier League (Leicester City)

13 Direct Goal involvements (9 goals and 4 assists) – 1,950 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 150 minutes

2021/22 Premier League (Leicester City)

16 Direct Goal involvements (6 goals and 10 assists) – 2,107 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 131 minutes

2022/23 Premier League (Leicester City)

14 Direct Goal involvements (13 goals and 1 assist) – 2,720 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 194 minutes

2023/24 Premier League (Newcastle United)

8 Direct Goal involvements (5 goals and 3 assists) – 795 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 99 minutes

2024/25 Premier League (Newcastle United)

13 Direct Goal involvements (9 goals and 4 assists) – 1,756 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 135 minutes

2025/26 Premier League (Newcastle United)

3 Direct Goal involvements (3 goals and 0 assists) – 553 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 184 minutes

Total Harvey Barnes Direct Goal involvements these past six and a bit Premier League seasons (for Leicester and Newcastle):

81 Direct Goal involvements 51 goals and 30 assists) – 11,975 PL minutes played

A Harvey Barnes direct goal involvement once every 147 Premier League minutes, from the start of the 2019/20 PL season onwards across six and a bit Premier League seasons.

As for how I see the rest of this Newcastle United season panning out…

My hope and expectation is that with Anthony Gordon due back imminently, we will see Eddie Howe with four excellent wing options, with Anthony Elanga also able to be more effective as United get more on the front foot and are able to be more dominant in games. The midfield able to give the attacking players a better platform to perform.

With so many matches ahead of us, we need Newcastle United able to do what other top clubs do when faced with playing every midweek as well. To be able to game after game have wingers who can be replaced by others who have similar quality, for the final 20-30 minutes of matches, so you have fresh players in key attacking positions throughout the game and at the same time protect them hopefully from picking up injuries due to having had to play too many minutes.