‘Not 100%’… Eddie Howe admits he took a risk playing £39m Newcastle player against Bournemouth

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Eddie Howe has now admitted that he took a big risk by playing one of his key Newcastle United players against Bournemouth this weekend.

Newcastle still have a whole host of players who are out injured and that’s resulted in some being pushed back into the starting 11 possibly sooner than Howe would have liked.

Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle after the game, the head coach admitted that Harvey Barnes was not 100% fit to play against Bournemouth and did well to manage 67 minutes before being subbed.

Howe ‘delighted’ with Newcastle attacker

Barnes was very unfortunate to suffer a serious foot injury in the first 10 minutes of Newcastle’s trip to Bramall Lane back in September and would go on to miss four months of football.

The winger finally made his return a couple of weeks ago when he came off the bench against Luton to net a crucial equaliser from distance, showing Newcastle exactly what they had been missing.

Howe has been so desperate to get bodies back into the side, especially in the attack, and was ‘really pleased’ to see the £39m signing in Newcastle’s starting 11, even if it was earlier than he had planned.

Barnes managed 67 minutes before being subbed for Jacob Murphy in the draw against Bournemouth and it’s likely he’ll have to play more key minutes against Arsenal next week unless Alexander Isak is deemed fit enough.

On Barnes, Howe said: “Really pleased to have Harvey back. He’s probably not a hundred per cent fit but was fit enough to start, and has also done well from the bench. I’m delighted with his performance.”

Newcastle desperately need a striker back

Against Bournemouth Newcastle didn’t show their usual attacking prowess with players playing out of position to cover for the fact that both Isak and Callum Wilson were missing from the squad.

Both Barnes and Anthony Gordon were switching between playing out on the left and through the middle though neither really worked with Barnes in particular being quite ineffective down the centre.

It just highlighted how key it’s going to be for Newcastle and Howe to identify a new striker in the summer, and especially so if Wilson will be sold on before his contract expires.

There’s no chance they can rely on this attacking duo to stay fit for another season having already suffered the consequences of having the two taking it in turns to visit the medical room.