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Alan Shearer suggests Eddie Howe is saving 25-year-old Newcastle man for the Champions League
Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer has suggested that Eddie Howe is saving Harvey Barnes for the Champions League.
Shearer to Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on The Rest Is Football Podcast.
It’s been a relatively positive start to the season for Newcastle despite Saturday’s defeat to Manchester City.
Very few teams will go to the Etihad and get anything from the game and a 1-0 defeat is nothing to be too upset about.
Eddie Howe unsurprisingly stuck with the same team on Saturday after they demolished Aston Villa on the opening weekend of the campaign.
There were some phenomenal performances that day, but many of his attackers couldn’t make the same impact against Man City.
One player who has been used off the bench on both occasions was Harvey Barnes.
The winger was brought in this summer to provide competition for the likes of Anthony Gordon and Miguel Almiron.
Shearer has suggested that Barnes is being saved for Newcastle’s Champions League campaign that starts next month.
Every player in that squad will be dreaming of walking out at St. James’ Park with that famous anthem playing over the speakers.
Shearer says Newcastle are saving Barnes for the Champions League
Lineker and Shearer were joking about Newcastle stealing Barnes off of Leicester City during the summer and not even playing him.
Shearer responded to Lineker’s jibe : “It won’t be long [until Newcastle are starting him]. Just waiting for Champions League football Gary [Lineker] to start and then he can play.”
It’s still very early days for Harvey Barnes at Newcastle but the signs so far are positive.
He will be delighted to have got off the mark on his debut against Aston Villa, scoring an injury-time goal last weekend.
Newcastle play their first match in the Champions League in less than a month.
However, with an international break to come before then, there aren’t that many matches left for Newcastle’s players to prove they should be starting Newcastle’s opening European match.
Shearer may have only been teasing Lineker when suggesting Newcastle were saving Barnes for the Champions League.
However, the 25-year-old will be hoping Howe gives him the nod for that first continental contest.