‘I was hoping for a Manchester City win in the FA Cup final, but with no European football this season, Newcastle can challenge for the Champions League again’: Harvey Barnes gives his verdict on 2024/25

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The Newcastle star believes that the north east club can push back towards Europe's elite club competition again

Harvey Barnes of Newcastle United in action during the Premier League match between Sheffield United and Newcastle United at Bramall Lane on September 24, 2023 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Newcastle United will not be playing European football during the 2024/25 campaign – but winger Harvey Barnes hopes they can use that to their advantage.

The Magpies finished fourth in the Premier League in 2022/23 to return to the Champions League last term, for the first time since 2004.

But Eddie Howe’s side were drawn in a horror group with Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and eventual finalists Borussia Dortmund, finishing bottom to exit Europe before Christmas, despite beating PSG in their opening home game.

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Newcastle then finished seventh in the Premier League, which would have been enough for a place in the Conference League, only for eighth-placed Manchester United to surprisingly beat Manchester City in the FA Cup Final.

That saw the Red Devils take a place in the Europa League, meaning sixth-placed Chelsea shuffled down to the Conference League, denying Newcastle a place in Europe.

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe hugs Sandro Tonali after the Premier League match between Newcastle United and Crystal Palace at St. James Park on October 21, 2023 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Tonali will return in late August (Image credit: Getty Images)

Barnes admits he’d been hoping Manchester City won at Wembley: “Definitely, because even though we knew we weren’t going to be in the Champions League, where we wanted to be, some sort of European football would still have been great for us,” he exclusively tells FourFourTwo.

“But this season we just have the Premier League to focus on now, hopefully with a fully fit squad.”

The extra workload of a European campaign saw the club hit by a number of injury absentees last term – including Barnes, who was ruled out from September until February.

SAITAMA, JAPAN - JULY 31: Harvey Barnes of Newcastle United in action during the J.LEAGUE International Series 2024 powered by docomo match between Urawa Red Diamonds and Newcastle United at Saitama Stadium on July 31, 2024 in Saitama, Japan. (Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)

barnes is targeting a strong season for Newcastle (Image credit: Getty Images)

The Magpies also lost Sandro Tonali to a betting ban, but the Italian returns in late August and their absence from Europe could give Newcastle some advantages. They feel that they can revisit the Champions League.

“We definitely can,” Barnes said. “Last season we had a lot of different challenges and it was tough, but we still did well in the end – we only missed out because of Manchester United winning the cup.

“Our aim is to be back up there. We’ve definitely got the quality in the squad to do it.”

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Chris Flanagan
Chris Flanagan
Senior Staff Writer

Chris joined FourFourTwo in 2015 and has reported from 20 countries, in places as varied as Jerusalem and the Arctic Circle. He's interviewed Pele, Zlatan and Santa Claus (it's a long story), as well as covering the World Cup, Euro 2020 and the Clasico. He previously spent 10 years as a newspaper journalist, and completed the 92 in 2017.