A lot of focus on the eight Newcastle United signings that were brought in across summer 2026.

There were actually nine in total but teenager Ousmane Diabate was instantly loaned back to the selling club in Turkey in order to get regular first team football.

So what about these eight Newcastle United signings that have gone straight into the first team squad?

I have had a look at the minutes played so far this 2026-27 season by the new players.

Specifically, the minutes that each of the eight have played in the Premier League.

I think it tells a very clear story now we are nine Premier League matches (810 minutes) into this 2026-27 season.

Total Premier League minutes (out of a possible total of 810) played by the eight Newcastle United signings with breakdown match by match (Ev Everton, CP Crystal Palace, AV Aston Villa, Cov Coventry, H Hull, Le Leeds, B Bournemouth, T Tottenham, Li Liverpool):

0 Ewen Jaouen
(Zero minutes in any of the nine Premier League matches)

27 Aladji Bamba
(3H, 10Le, 14Li)

115 Bazoumana Toure
(3Ev, 34AV, 30Cov, 16H, 33Le)

256 Sean Steur
(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 for me, is that Matthias Jaissle has given far more Premier League minutes to the (relatively) older and more experienced Newcastle United signings.

Three of the eight Newcastle United signings were aged 24 when they arrived, the other five were 21 or under.

Lukas Hornicek has played every Premier League minute this season.

Nico Gonzalez has started all seven EPL matches he has been available for.

Amar Dedic has started all of the EPL matches he was in a position to start, as well as off the bench against Coventry.

The other five Newcastle United signings who were aged 21 and under when they arrived at St James’ Park, have played 702 minutes between them. That is less than Lukas Hornicek alone has played and would also be less than the Dedic and Gonzalez individual totals if they had been available all of the time.

On the other hand, Matias Fernandez-Pardo has played far more minutes than I think he would have otherwise done so far, simply because of so many injured players in the early part of the season.

I am sure that Matthias Jaissle sees the exciting potential of Sean Steur just as much as we do, probably even more so considering he watches him every day in training. However, my belief is that the Head coach is simply trying to protect the 18-year-old from too much expectancy and pressure too soon. The same with the other younger players.

I don’t think he is holding the likes of Toure and Bamba back from playing more minutes so far because of any negative irrational reason, more a case of giving these younger inexperienced players from weaker leagues a chance to integrate and build up their confidence rather than throwing them in at the deep end and a case of sink or swim?

The booing from many Newcastle United fans at the Everton match for example, it isn’t exactly something that will help younger players to build confidence if they are subjected to that.