Harvey Barnes - The hidden stat offering huge encouragement amidst transfer frustration

Harvey Barnes will be hoping to have a much better second season at St James' Park. He reminded supporters of his quality at the weekend, as he came on and impacted the game in a positive way. Every time that he got the ball, he looked dangerous.

The most impressive part of Barnes' game is the simplicity of it. Every action has a function and he is very direct as a result of that. It was an excellent piece of skill to create space for himself to deliver the ball into the back post. Things started to happen in the game when Barnes came onto the pitch.

Last season was stop-start for him. His foot injury was a freak incident and represented the start of our bad luck with injuries. Since joining the club in a £38m deal last summer, the 26-year-old has contributed five goals and four assists in the Premier League. These numbers don't jump off the page, but when you look at his minutes played, it starts to.

Barnes is averaging a goal or assist every 94.1 minutes. That is very good and underlines exactly what he is as a player. The one-time England international is direct and adds goal threat to any team he is playing in.

In an ideal world, Eddie Howe would have the option to play him on the left and Anthony Gordon on the right. That is how we ended the match on Sunday and the goal came from that combination. However, Gordon has earned himself a prominent role in the team and the summer fiasco that led to him being offered to Liverpool is still fresh.

Howe will want to make Gordon feel valued and moving him away from his preferred position won't help with that aim.

That all being said, Barnes should have a prominent role over the coming weeks. Whether he starts games or comes on as a substitute, he will have a big impact on our season and could be even more key if we fail to land a new winger before Friday's 11pm deadline.