The surprise leader as we rank every Newcastle United player by minutes played in pre-season

Newcastle United rounded off a successful pre-season campaign with a 2-1 win over La Liga side Athletic Bilbao.

Eddie Howe’s side faced seven opponents in pre-season - starting with Gateshead and ending with Bilbao at St James’ Park.

In between, the Magpies faced 1860 Munich and Mainz 05 in Austria before taking on Burnley and Benfica in Portugal.

United hosted Serie A outfit Atalanta on Friday and Bilbao less than 24 hours later, which attracted a combined crowd of over 86,000.

Newcastle won five and lost two but as we all know, results in don’t matter in pre-season.

It’s all about the minutes and here, NewcastleWorld ranks each Magpies player in order of minutes played:

9. Matty Longstaff - 67 minutes

Played 45 minutes against Gateshead before appearing as a substitute against Burnley, Benfica, Atalanta and Bilbao. | Getty Images

Played 90 minutes against Gateshead but sadly missed the rest of pre-season with a knee injury. Photo: Charlotte Tattersall

Was drafted in for friendlies against Burnley, Benfica, Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao. Photo: Gualter Fatia

Started in between the sticks against Burnley and Benfica but was left out of the St James’ Park double header. | Getty Images