Joelinton sends five-word message to Harvey Barnes after impressive St James’ Park debut

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As far as home debuts go they don’t come much better than Harvey Barnes’ run out for Newcastle United yesterday in the Sela Cup.

It doesn’t seem to have taken Harvey Barnes long to get settled into the rhythm at Newcastle as the £38million signing from Leicester City looked a threat every time he got the ball yesterday, linking up well with forward Callum Wilson.

Joelinton got Barnes up and running selflessly laying the ball off to him in the area for Barnes to fire home for his first goal as a Newcastle player, then later on Wilson played a perfectly weighted ball across the face of goal for Barnes to hammer home.

“Welcome to St James’ bro”

After the game Joelinton sent a welcome message to Barnes via his Instagram reels with the image of them celebrating the first goal and a message saying “Welcome to St James bro”.

Barnes has clearly endeared himself to his team mates already, and with two goals at St James’ Park it’s safe to say that he’s done so to the fans too. I wouldn’t be surprised if those fans who weren’t keen on him signing are already starting to change their minds.

Scoring two well-taken goals on his home debut must stand Barnes in good stead for a place in Eddie Howe‘s first starting XI of the new Premier League campaign on Saturday, after all, that’s exactly what he was brought in for.

Barnes and Isak could be a lethal combination for Newcastle

Watching him yesterday it felt like Barnes and Alexander Isak would be a lethal combination. Barnes’ passes to Callum Wilson in the area were too direct to feet for Wilson who’d rather run on to a pass and fire home, whereas Isak has the ability to keep the ball at his feet and turn a defender inside out before firing home.

Given that I expect Isak to start on Saturday, we might get to see Barnes and Isak together against Aston Villa and we’ll see if that theory pans out.

If Barnes produces more performances like yesterday’s this season then we’ll be feeling that £38million was a bargain.