OPINIONNewcastle’s £298m boost, Sandro Tonali glimpse and brilliant reaction cameras missed – 5 things

OPINIONNewcastle’s £298m boost, Sandro Tonali glimpse and brilliant reaction cameras missed – 5 things

Newcastle United defeated Gateshead 3-2 as preparations for the new campaign got under way and here are five things we learned from the pre-season friencly

Newcastle United started their preparations for the new campaign with a 3-2 win against Gateshead in the Magpies’ first pre-season friendly of the summer.

The Heed went into half-time 2-0 up following goals from Marcus Dinanga and Ste Wearne, but the visitors turned it around at the Gateshead International Stadium in the second half. Elliot Anderson pulled one back in the 49th minute before Allan Saint-Maximin equalised from close range a few minutes later. Substitute Jay Turner-Cooke then grabbed what proved to be the winner with a well-taken volley in the 81st minute.

Elliot Anderson inspires comeback as reaction shows mentality
Eddie Howe once said there’s ‘no such thing as a dead game for Newcastle – not even a pre-season friendly in my eyes’. No wonder, then, Howe was knelt down taking notes midway through the first half like he would be for a Premier League game.

Newcastle were already 1-0 down at that stage, following Marcus Dinanga’s opener, but it was about to get worse for the disjointed Magpies after Ste Wearne doubled the Heed’s advantage right before half-time. Cue taunts of ‘Who are ya?’ from the Heed fans.

Newcastle may have been without a host of senior players, and only had a few days’ training under their belt, but you can be sure Howe was far from happy at the break with his side 2-0 down to a National League outfit.

Huge transfer hint as NUFC target missing from matchday squad, someone else wore his number

Perhaps the biggest indication yet that Newcastle United could be about to land their man has come in the shape of a team sheet released on social media.

Leicester City posted their team sheet on Twitter for their pre-season friendly with Northampton today and noticeable in his absence was Harvey Barnes fueling speculation that he’s nearing a switch to Newcastle United.

While a pre-season match day squad, especially so early in pre-season, shouldn’t give too much away about a player’s future – after all, most of Newcastle’s first team absent from the squad that faced Gateshead today – the thing that really stood out was in the squad numbers.

Lucky number seven … or not
Last season Harvey Barnes wore the number seven shirt for Leicester but in their squad today, the number seven was worn by Wanya Marcal-Madivadua.

Not being in a pre-season friendly squad is easy to explain away, but letting someone take over the number seven shirt seems like a highly unlikely thing to do unless you’ve not been given a squad number.

How Borussia Dortmund Almost Died
Not being in a pre-season friendly squad is easy to explain away, but letting someone take over the number seven shirt seems like a highly unlikely thing to do unless you’ve not been given a squad number.

Leicester City Players Return to Pre-Season Training

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images
Putting two and two together here it can only mean that Barnes is on the move.

It doesn’t necessarily mean Barnes is coming to Newcastle, sure, but with all the speculation, all the updates from journalists, it’s more likely he’s going to Newcastle than anywhere else.

Newcastle could now announce the deal in the coming days
Given that Leicester already seem resigned to him going by giving his number to somebody else, it’s now surely just a matter of time before the deal is done.

Newcastle and Leicester are said to still be ironing out the fee for Barnes, but by all accounts that’s pretty much the final hurdle as the player is keen on the move.

I’m expecting this one to be done in the next couple of days now. Fingers crossed.