Eight Newcastle United signings in the summer of 2026 are getting a lot of attention.
In fact it was only nine, but teenager Ousmane Diabate was immediately loaned to a selling club in Turkey to get regular first-team football.
But what about these eight Newcastle United signings who went straight into the first team squad?
Here’s a look at the minutes the new players have played through this 2026-27 season.
Specifically, the minutes played by each of the eight in the Premier League.
I think it makes it pretty clear that we are at nine Premier League matches (810 minutes) in the 2026-27 season.
A total of 8 Premier League minutes (out of a possible total of 810 minutes) with eight Newcastle United signings split match by match (Home Everton, CP Crystal Palace, AV Aston Villa, JV Coventry, H Hull, Le Leeds, B Bournemouth, T Tottenham, Liverpool):
0 Ewen Jaouen
(Zero minutes in any of nine Premier League matches)
27 Aladji Bamba
(3H, 10Le, 14Li)
115 Bazumana Toure
(3Ev, 34AV, 30Cov, 16H, 33Le)
256 Sean Sturgeon
(26Ev, 5CP, 66H, 71 Le, 13B, 19T, 56Li)
304 Matias Fernandez-Pardo
(56AV, 90Cov, 74H, 57Le, 27B)
501 Nico Gonzalez
(64Ev, 90CP, 90AV, 90Cov, 19Le, 77B, 71T)
536 Amar Dedic
(87Ev, 90CP, 31Cov, 58Le, 90B, 90T, 90Li)
810 Lukas Hornicek
(90Ev, 90CP, 90AV, 90Cov, 90H, 90Le, 90B, 90T, 90Li)
What stands out to me is that Matthias Jaissle has given more Premier League minutes to the (relatively) older and more experienced Newcastle United signings.
Of Newcastle United’s eight signings, three were aged 24 when they arrived, while the other five were 21 or under.
Lukas Horniček played every minute in the Premier League this season.
Nico Gonzalez started all seven EPL matches he was available for.
Amar Dedic started all the EPL matches he could start, including off the bench against Coventry.
The other five Newcastle United players aged 21 and under had played 702 minutes between them when they arrived at St James’ Park. That’s less than Lukas Hornicek has played alone, and it would be less than the individual totals of Dedic and Gonzalez if they were ever available.
Matias Fernandez-Pardo, on the other hand, has played more minutes than I ever thought he would, simply because of so many injured players early in the season.
I’m sure Matthias Jaissle sees the exciting potential of Sean Steur as much as we do, probably more considering he watches him every day in training. However, my belief is that the manager is simply trying to protect the 18-year-old from too much pressure too soon. Same with other young players.
I don’t think he’s keeping players like Toure and Bamba from playing more minutes so far for any negative illogical reason, more to give these young rookies from weaker leagues a chance to integrate and build their confidence instead of throwing them in the deep end or floating them?
For example, being booed by many Newcastle United fans at an Everton match is not something that will help young players build confidence if they are exposed to it.