'We knew' - Will Osula injury confession after making Newcastle United debut

The 21-year-old completed his £15million move from Sheffield United on Thursday and only trained twice before starting Saturday’s 1-0 win over Stade Brestois at St James’ Park.

Harvey Barnes scored the only goal of the game in the 15th minute but Osula had two chances to score, the first after being played in behind by Miguel Almiron. The second saw him latch onto a ball by Barnes and slot the ball into the bottom corner, however the offside flag cut short his celebrations.

He put in a promising showing, despite barely training in the build-up to his Newcastle switch because of a concussion.

“He did really well when you consider when he joined us he hadn’t trained for seven or eight days with a concussion,” Howe told NewcastleWorld. “We knew playing today he wasn’t at his peak physical condition.

“I thought he showed his qualities today and what he’s going to bring to the team, his pace, strength and took his goal really well - he was unlucky with the marginal offside. I think he’ll be really pleased with his efforts.”

Osula will likely be on the bench for this weekend’s Premier League opener against Southampton with last season’s Alexander Isak set to lead the line.

Howe is excited at how the Norwegian under-21s international can develop, especially when he has Isak and Callum Wilson, who is currently sidelined with a back injury, to learn from.

Speaking earlier this week, the Magpies’ head coach said: “I think it’s a very tricky situation because we’ve got two outstanding centre forwards in my opinion, very good. And to find someone to compliment them isn’t as easy as you think it is.

“To find any young striker we can develop… I don’t think he’ll have two better centre forwards to learn from, pick their brains and use as role models. I think he’s come into a real healthy environment. It’ s not easy to find players with a profile. Of course, financially it had to work us as well, we couldn’t spend outrageous sums of money so I think this is a good deal for us.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do with him but he’s a really good character and I’m sure he’ll enjoy his time with us.