As the side prepares to face Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao at St James’s Park this weekend, we look back at the pre-season friendlies against Gateshead, 1860 Munich, Mainz 05, Benfica and the practice match against Burnley to see which players Eddie Howe has been using the most.
Four senior players are still yet to get any minutes so far this pre-season while the majority of the squad have featured in all five matches so far.
Howe has also called upon several Under-21 players to help bolster squad numbers while out in Austria and Portugal this month.
1. Javier Manquillo - 0 minutes
Injury prevented Manquillo making an appearance in pre-season. He has been in Spain working on his rehabilitation.
2. Mark Gillespie - 0 minutes
The goalkeeper remained on the sidelines throughout pre-season.
3. Federico Fernandez - 0 minutes
Didn’t feature in pre-season but Eddie Howe has praised the defender’s professionalism.
4. Jamal Lewis - 0 minutes
Fitness issues have prevented Lewis from getting on the pitch this pre-season. Not what he would have wanted having missed the second half of the campaign due to being left out of Eddie Howe’s 25-man squad.