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:

21. Ryan Fraser - 315 minutes

Missed the defeat in Benfica due to family reasons but returned to face Atalanta on Friday. Photo: Stu Forster

Plenty of minutes in Botman’s tank as he eyes a first Premier League start versus Nottingham Forest. | Getty Images

United’s skipper played a big role in pre-season, largely alongside new man Botman. | Getty Images

Was sent off against Benfica but was available to feature at home to Athletic Bilbao. Photo: Gualter Fatia