This time last year Harvey Barnes was a slightly anxious father-to-be with his life off the pitch dominated by the need to keep scouring Rightmove for a new home in the north-east.
Twelve months on, the Newcastle winger and his partner are parents of a soon-to-be one-year-old daughter, Harper, and finally feel settled in a new house – yet something is still missing.
Barnes remains desperate to become one of the first names on Eddie Howe’s teamsheets and is anxious to make up for lost time after a frustrating first season at St James’ Park following his £38m transfer from Leicester.
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“When you come into a new club, you’re always desperate to make a big impression, so obviously it wasn’t the start I was hoping for,” says the 26-year-old, recalling the 11th minute of Newcastle’s 8-0 win at Sheffield United last September and the moment he somehow damaged a ligament beneath a toe before finding himself sidelined until February.
A month earlier he had marked his debut by creating one goal and scoring another in a 5-1 home win against Aston Villa but, suddenly, everything had gone wrong in the freakiest of situations.
“It was a rare injury,” he says, settling back into his chair at Newcastle’s pre-season training camp in Bavaria. “There were mixed opinions from specialists. Around 12 weeks after it happened some doctors were saying you need an operation, some were saying you don’t. That can be tough.
“As a player you want to know for sure; you almost prefer there to be only one solution. This wasn’t one of those injuries. It’s frustrating not knowing the exact length of time you’re going to be out.”
Ultimately there was no operation and Barnes was back in time to score a cathartic last-gasp equaliser as Newcastle drew 4-4 at home against Luton in February. “I found being injured tough,” says a player who, after a further absence with hamstring trouble, stepped off the bench to score twice in a 4-3 win against West Ham in March. “We’d had Harper a week before the toe injury happened, so there was a lot going on at that time.
View image in fullscreenHarvey Barnes scores a brilliant late winner against West Ham in March after returning from his troublesome toe injury. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters
“There were a lot of up-and-down times. When you have longer-term injuries you have long days of treatment and then you go home and you almost can’t switch off from it. You’re still icing; you’re still focused on it.
“In some ways having to switch and concentrate on our daughter was really helpful but, in other ways, it was challenging. It was a real sort of turbulent start.”
The warm sun enveloping southern Germany in gloriously dry heat seems emblematic of a brighter horizon. “I feel a lot more settled this year,” he says as he describes his goals against West Ham as marking the moment he felt he properly “arrived” on Tyneside. “My daughter’s a year old, we’re established in the house we’ve bought, all those things that were a challenge are now very settled.
“It’s probably given me a perspective on the challenges facing players coming here from abroad. I’d been on loans before but never anything as big as moving to Newcastle.”
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At least Howe empathised. “He’s really good with helping you to settle,” says Barnes. “He really understands the problems players face when they’re changing clubs.
“He gets a really good understanding of each player’s family situation and he can help you with that. If there are certain things you need, he’ll always be there. He didn’t help me furnish the house but, when we first had Harper, he did have a few good conversations with me about my daughter and the different challenges I was going to face as a dad. He’s been there, he understands.”
In the past Howe has given other new fathers in his squad books about parenthood, but not Barnes. “He didn’t do that with me,” he says, smiling. “But his door’s always open. If you want a chat, he’s always there. We need those conversations; they’re important. However footballers are viewed externally, we’re all humans and have the same feelings as everyone else.”
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Howe the tactician is a slightly different proposition. “There are a lot of things to learn here,” says Barnes, nodding sympathetically at reminders that his fellow winger Anthony Gordon has said it took him six months to fully fathom out Howe’s technical modus operandi. “There are certain demands you have to meet in terms of the tactical side of things. You need to get used to the style we play.”
If Barnes would relish adding to the solitary England cap he collected in a 2020 friendly against Wales, he knows an alternative door is not quite closed. “I’m still eligible to play for Scotland,” he says. “There’s been one or two conversations, but not too much detail.”
A potential international tug-of-war is for the future though. “The main focus is to get back playing for Newcastle,” he says. “After a good pre-season I feel I’m up to speed. I’m ready.”
