With packed fixture schedules and little in the way of recovery time, top tier competition is about so much more than a starting XI these days.
For the most part, Newcastle United tend to follow that trend, and having 26 different senior starters over the course of last season's Premier League campaign shows that Steve Bruce’s men are just about average in that regard.
Even taking that figure into account, however, there were some players who – whether it be through injury or other reasons – were on the club’s books without making much of an on-field impact.
But which benchwarmer cost the Magpies the most money for the least output last term?
New research from OLBG has discovered the Premier League players who were paid the most but played the least in 2020/21.
Click and scroll through their findings for each club below…

5. Southampton - Sam McQueen
Weekly wage: £8,000 Annual salary: £416,000 Minutes played: 0 Earning per minute played: £416,000 (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images) Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS

6. West Ham - David Martin
Weekly wage: £8,400 Annual salary: £436,800 Minutes played: 0 Earning per minute played: £436,800 (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images) Photo: Jordan Mansfield

7. Liverpool - Konstantinos Tsimikas
Weekly wage: £55,000 Annual salary: £2.86m Minutes played: 5 Earning per minute played: £572,000 (Photo by Zac Goodwin - Pool/Getty Images) Photo: Pool

8. Leeds United - Adam Forshaw
Weekly wage: £23,000 Annual salary: £1.196m Minutes played: 0 Earning per minute played: £1.196m (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images) Photo: Paul Kane

