Newcastle United star opens up about ‘difficult’ injury lay-off and decision not to have surgery

Harvey Barnes has opened up about the difficulties he faced during his four month injury layoff. Barnes was injured during the win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane at the end of September and made a goalscoring return to the team on Saturday afternoon by netting his side’s equaliser against Luton Town at St James’ Park.

Barnes, who joined the club for £38m during the summer, injured his foot against the Blades and was initially scheduled to come back around the turn of the new year having opted not to undergo surgery on the injury. His return was nudged back a little and whilst Barnes admitted that being on the sidelines was ‘difficult’ for him, he’s satisfied about the decision not to undergo an operation on his injury:

“It’s difficult when you speak to different specialists and you get different opinions from the professionals. That’s tough.” Barnes admitted. 

“We made the decision to give it a go without the operation. It’s been the right decision, because it’s all good now. Now I’m just looking forward to the rest of the season.

“When you’re a new signing, you just want to hit the ground running. Six games in, you’re injured. That’s hard. Then, it goes on longer than you think and there’s a couple of setbacks. Mentally, it’s so tough. 

“I’ve had one injury in football other than this. I’ve always been fit. So now I’m back doing what I love. I just want to help the team.”

And Barnes did help the team within ten minutes of his introduction as he slotted an effort past Thomas Kaminski to restore parity in a chaotic game on Tyneside. Although the Magpies did well to rescue a point from being two goals down, they will feel it was a missed opportunity to capitalise on the momentum their brilliant win at Villa Park earned them.

They will also be disheartened by an injury to Anthony Gordon who left the stadium on crutches. Gordon’s injury adds yet more strain on the Newcastle squad and medical department as they push to finish strongly in the Premier League and FA Cup.

Although Gordon’s injury is yet another setback and more bad luck for the Magpies, Barnes still believes they can finish the season well and push for a return to Europe: “Of course there’s bad luck,” the former Leicester City man said. “Like mine, it was such a rare injury. For some of them, there’s just no answer. It’s bad luck, what can you do? 

“They all came at the same time, too, which was so unlucky. We’ve stuck in and the position we’re in, there’s no reason why a good run can’t take us up the table. 

Barnes continued: “This team is capable of great things as we showed last year. We have shown it in spells this year too. When we are on top of our game we can go on a great run and climb the table quickly.”

Newcastle face Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Arsenal in the Premier League before making the trip to Ewood Park on Tuesday 27 February for their FA Cup Fifth Round meeting with Blackburn Rovers.