Newcastle’s head coach, Eddie Howe, has told his players to use Harvey Barnes’s patience as an example as the winger prepares to return to his former club Leicester for the first time.
The 27-year-old left the King Power Stadium in a £38m switch to Tyneside in July 2023 after the Foxes’ relegation from the top flight, but has had to remain patient since as he vies with Anthony Gordon for a place on the left side of Howe’s front three.
Gordon’s recent suspension and injury have handed Barnes a chance. He started the Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool and as he heads back to the East Midlands, Howe faces a difficult choice between him and the England international.
Asked what the forward has to do to establish himself as a regular, Howe said: “I think it’s continue to take your chance. I always say that to every player. The training ground is match day for the lads that aren’t playing, so they need to see training as that important. They need to impress me. They need to show that they’re better than the player in their position and that’s a really healthy squad dynamic to have, so for anyone not playing, that’s how they need to view it.”
Barnes’s misfortune was to arrive at St James’ Park and find Gordon in blistering form, and Howe’s efforts to shoehorn both men into his starting lineup earlier in the season resulted in only limited success. In the main, he has had to bide his time and try to make an impact from the bench, but his performances in Gordon’s absence have given his manager food for thought.
Howe said: “We’ve really tried to focus on Harvey’s game and his training and try to see it as an opportunity to improve him while he’s out of the team, while recognising his qualities and knowing that we want him in the team. That’s a very difficult thing because we probably didn’t have the balance of the side right early season. We were trying players in different positions to try and find a way to make that work. We didn’t probably have the right outcome then.”
Now Barnes will hope for a chance to show what he can do in familiar surroundings to remind Howe of why he wanted to sign him in the first place as the race for Champions League qualification gathers pace. Howe said: “I’m sure the game will mean a lot to Harvey. It was a very successful period for him at Leicester. I remember every time we played Leicester, he was a problem for us.
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“They had a really good team at the time, a very iconic Leicester team, very, very strong and we always had really tough games against them, so I’m delighted that Harvey’s now with us.”