Newcastle United casually make £166m change v Aston Villa as realisation hits

There are just over 20 minutes remaining. Newcastle United lead Aston Villa 3-1 and Eddie Howe casually turns to his bench and introduces £58million worth of talent in the shape of Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes.

Alexander Isak, the two-goal hero showing shades of Thierry Henry, and Anthony Gordon, who claimed the assist for Sandro Tonali’s opener, are replaced. Bringing off two players you paid a combined £108m for tends to result in a dip in quality — but not at Newcastle.

It was at that moment when realisation struck. Unlike previous Magpies managers gone by, Howe doesn’t just have any soul at his disposal, he has genuine strength in depth. Little behold, Wilson and Barnes both got on the scoresheet to wrap up a scintillating 5-1 opening day win.

“We need the strongest bench we can get this year with the amount of games we have, competitions we are in,” said Howe after the game. “It was certainly a difficult day to name the team. It certainly wasn’t easy. They weren’t easy decisions to make but were ones I had to make.”

Wilson and Barnes finished as their respective club’s top goal scorers last season, netting 31 goals between them. After one game, Isak leads United’s charts and it seems almost certain the Swede will beat his 11 goals in 22-23 - a campaign restricted by a thigh injury - and push closer to Wilson’s tally of 18.

Out of the trio mentioned above, Gordon is perhaps the most likely to hit the lowest goal return but that is no criticism of him. Having initially struggled to make an impact following his £45m January move from Everton, the 22-year-old is beginning to look at home after clearly benefitting from a positive summer.

A goal against Chelsea on the final day of last season was followed up with a European Championship win with England under-21s, and that’s not to mention that Gordon was named player of the tournament. As a wide forward, it’s vital Gordon does contribute goals and assists but his workrate, similar to Miguel Almiron, and aggression will go a long way in this Howe team.

And it’s also important not to discount Jacob Murphy. The former Norwich City winger is perhaps better regarded for his bubbly personality off the pitch but an assist for Barnes’ goal against Villa is a reminder of the pace and energy he can bring in the closing stages of games.

It’s not just in attack where Newcastle have depth. Behind Saturday’s midfield starters of Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali and Joelinton, Howe had local lads Sean Longstaff, an unsung hero last season, and Elliot Anderson, who many argued was unlucky not to start following an outstanding pre-season, to call upon off the bench.

Indeed, that’s without mentioning Joe Willock as prepares to make his comeback from a hamstring injury after the September international break. Lewis Miley also proved in pre-season he can hack it at senior level, although Howe is keen to protect the 17-year-old by managing his exposure carefully.

Alongside Miley, the likes of Loris Karius, Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie were among those not even make the bench.

“They are dilemmas I need because we are going to need the strongest squad possible,” Howe said. “And the players who missed out today will play lots of games, that’s just a fact as we are in so many competitions. We are going to be stretched but I also believe in their quality. It is going to be nice to make those decisions. Hopefully, performances won’t suffer with any changes.”

Howe spoke last season of needing the ability to field two strong starting XIs, and he’s arguably a left-back and right-sided central defender away from having that. And that is precisely why United are looking to strengthen either of those areas in the remaining three weeks of the transfer window.