Newcastle United and Leicester City have negotiated a fee of around £38 million ($48.8 million) for Harvey Barnes, with Allan Saint-Maximin poised to leave for Saudi club Al-Ahli to make room in the budget
So that’s one midfielder in and one midfielder out, but what do Newcastle get in Barnes, a 25-year-old who graduated from Leicester’s academy in 2016?
While Saint-Maximin will be known for his cleverness and adventurous style of play, as well as a sometimes disappointing end product and mediocre defensive efforts, Barnes’ style is more straightforward: one-twos and goals.
Barnes has scored in double figures in each of the last three seasons (13, 11 and 13 in total). Former Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers challenged him to enhance his goal-contribution output, and he has certainly delivered.
It is now his primary weapon. He is direct and goes for the goal at all times. Barnes is not a traditional winger, according to Michael Cox of The Athletic. He plays wide and prefers to operate on the touchline, but when given the opportunity, he will cut in and run directly for goal.
Barnes, unlike Saint-Maximin, does not take opponents on as much as you might expect from a wide player, yet he does carry the ball efficiently.
His speed allows him to beat full-back Ashley Young to score against Aston Villa last season, but the general trend is that he looks to link up with a central striker to give and go, receiving the one-two before opening up his body and passing his finish with his preferred right foot inside the far post.
Last October, he played a one-two with Kieran Dewsbury-Hall before scoring against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
And on the final day of the season, when he scored alongside Kelechi Iheanacho against West Ham…
That goal-scoring method has become as iconic as his bow-and-arrow celebration.
Normally, conventional wingers’ assist totals would be higher than their goal totals, but Barnes only had three assists last season.
He set up 13 goals for teammates in 2021-22, but that was by far his greatest season for assists, and the only time he reached double figures.
He is more of a modern-day inside forward than a winger, and Rodgers believed he could become Leicester’s Sadio Mane. But, in order to get him there, Rodgers wants Barnes to diversify his runs and be less predictable — though knowing what’s coming doesn’t mean he can’t be stopped easily, as last season shown.
Rodgers believed Barnes could be more effective if he made diverse runs and bursts in the inside channels and centrally off the wing, and he became angry when Barnes didn’t.
To prove his previous manager’s argument, Barnes was highly effective when he did make that run, scoring at Brentford in March when James Maddison saw his out-to-in run.
In a 4-1 win over Tottenham in February, he glided into a central position outside the area, almost like a No 10, before finding a pocket of space and blasting into the bottom corner.
In November, he teamed up once more with Maddison at Everton. Barnes started the move on the left wing as usual, but after passing to Maddison, he broke down the inside channel and received the return pass before finding space to fire home.
Rodgers also thought Barnes’ defensive work in getting back to aid his full-back could be improved. Barnes has a rating of 26 for disrupting opposition moves, while his recoveries rating — how often he picks up loose balls or intercepts — is only four, according to data from smarterscout (which gives players a series of ratings ranging from zero to 99, relating to either how often a player performs a given action or how effective they are at it compared to others playing in their position).
Nonetheless, his overall defending-impact rating, which evaluates how good he is in preventing the opposition from moving the ball, is above average at 67, indicating that he is at least productive while pressing the opposition.
“He’s a joy to watch when he’s in full flow,” Rodgers remarked of Barnes after the Conference League home win over Rennes in March 2022. “He’s very direct, he wants to get at the opponent with and without the ball, and his final pass has improved.”
“Whether it’s his ability to lay it off, his vision and awareness to see it, or his composure in finishing.
“So it’s great, but he still knows we’re demanding more, and he also demands more from himself — and that’s important, that he has that hunger if he’s going to continue and develop even more as a top-class player.”
Barnes is a terrific player, a seasoned Premier League attacker who has yet to reach his prime, but he will cost Newcastle a lot of money and there are still elements of his game that need to be addressed, particularly defensively.
But, while he is not the final product, the basic materials are present.
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