Newcastle United ‘reveal’ Harvey Barnes shirt number ahead of Aston Villa - but quickly clarify

Barnes has signed a five-year deal at Newcastle after Leicester accepted a £38million bid. The 25-year-old has flown over to the United States to meet up with his new team-mates for the Premier League Summer Series.

The Magpies face Aston Villa for their opening match in Philadelphia with Barnes in contention to make his non-competitive debut. Ahead of the match, the club posted an edited image of Barnes in a Newcastle shirt recreating the iconic ‘Rocky steps’ pose in Philadelphia accompanied by the caption: “When in Philly...”

The image showed Barnes wearing a No. 15 Newcastle top, a number that has been vacant since Kieran Trippier swapped to No. 2 last summer.

Pre-season squad numbers are still subject to change for the competitive season due to further players potentially arriving or departing but they are often a good indicator for what number the player will wear for the season ahead.

For example, last pre-season saw Sven Botman, Nick Pope and Kieran Trippier wear the No. 4, 22 and 2 shirts respectively which they kept for the 2022-23 campaign.

Sandro Tonali also wore the No. 20 shirt in the 2-1 win at Rangers on Tuesday night.

But the club were quick to clarify in a short statement which read: “Harvey Barnes will wear the number 15 in the #PLSummerSeries, but please note that all squad numbers will remain subject to change ahead of the new Premier League season.”

This will prevent supporters purchasing new replica shirts that may have an incorrect squad number printed on once the competitive season kicks-off.

In addition to Villa, Newcastle will also face Chelsea in Atlanta on July 27 (1:15am kick-off BST) and Brighton & Hove Albion on July 29 (12:30am kick-off) while in the United States before returning to England.

Eddie Howe’s side will conclude pre-season by hosting the Sela Cup at St James’ Park on August 5 and August 6 as they face Fiorentina and Villarreall. They open the Premier League season at home to Villa on August 12 (5:30pm kick-off).