Harvey Barnes has spoken to the media and was asked about Bruno Guimaraes’ situation at Newcastle United.
Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes was under the impression Bruno Guimaraes would be returning to the training ground on Friday before travelling to Spain for a pre-season training camp at La Manga.
That’s what Barnes said following Wednesday night’s 4-1 defeat at Bristol City. But it’s fair to say a lot has changed since then.
Eddie Howe’s departure from Newcastle has been revealed, and Matthias Jaissle has been lined up to replace him. And amid all that, Guimaraes did not return to travel with his teammates to Spain on Friday.
Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnesplaceholder image
Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes | Getty Images
It comes amid intense transfer interest from Premier League champions Arsenal and Guimaraes’ desire to leave Newcastle and complete the move. Although sources have stated that the plan is now for Guimaraes to travel independently to join up with the squad in Spain on Sunday, there are real doubts over whether that will happen.
Arsenal could make a move before then or Guimaraes could simply repeat Alexander Isak’s actions of last summer and not travel.
But Barnes, fresh from signing a new contract, was speaking positively about his captain and the season ahead when addressing the media on Wednesday.
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Harvey Barnes on Guimaraes
“We're losing players,” he said. “It's football, it happens. It happens at every club and it's happening with us this summer. A lot of things have been said in the press. We don't know exactly what's going on.
“He's back in on Friday, so it'll be good to see him. He's the captain of the football club, so it'll be exciting to have him back. You want to keep your best players, of course you do. He's a big part of what we've got going on here. I can't really say any more on that. It's just good to see him on Friday and I'm excited.”
But football rarely turns out as expected, as Barnes and his teammates were instead greeted by a meeting explaining the departure of their head coach while their captain was nowhere to be seen.
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NUFC stars blocking out the noise
On all the noise and speculation surrounding Newcastle at the moment, Barnes added: “Yes, I think it's part of it. It happens at every club.
“The main thing is you do your job within the team and within the squad, whether that's yourself, helping players, inspiring all the new lads, whatever it may be, to get ourselves in the best position possible for the first game of the season.
“Like I said, there's a lot of that going on at the minute. The squad's in a great place, everyone's in a great mood in the club, and it's really exciting times.
"I think we've got all the lads back in. You can see the excitement. Everyone's buzzing for the season to start.
"Of course, we've got our trip away [to Spain], which will be great. Get all the lads together. I'm sure when the season starts, everyone's going to be raring to go."
The Newcastle squad will have a week of training in La Manga before facing Valencia in a pre-season friendly next Saturday.