While the goals weren’t overflowing at St James’ Park on Saturday, Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United did at least pick up a much-needed 1-0 win in Premier League action over lowly Wolverhampton Wanderers to finally get a victory on the board.

Before this confidence-boosting victory on home soil, the Magpies only had a point next to their name in league action, as they feared what a post-Alexander Isak reality would look like.

Now, however, with Nick Woltemade leading the line, the near future looks far more rosy, as the former Stuttgart goal machine scored on his debut to secure a slender victory over Vitor Pereira’s visitors.

Woltemade's dream debut

With Howe revealing before the Wolves clash that Yoane Wissa was going to be absent due to a knee injury, the pressure was severely ramped up on the new £69m striker to deliver some instant goods as the Toon’s fresh centre-forward option.

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He didn’t disappoint either on his first outing at St James’ Park, with the clinical number 27 finding himself in the perfect position to head home a Jacob Murphy deep into the first 45 minutes, which did see Wolves have a few openings.

Thankfully, after Woltemade headed past Sam Johnstone, the tight game swung in favour of the hosts.

More goals should soon come the 6-foot-6 attacker’s way, too, considering he was purchased for that lavish amount, off the back of him powering home a lethal 18 strikes from just 36 contests wearing Stuttgart white.

However, while the Toon masses are undoubtedly enthused by the potential of Woltemade, they look to be less overjoyed by the presence of Harvey Barnes in the first-team ranks as one of the German’s attacking partners, if his out-of-sorts showing against the Old Gold is anything to go by.

Unlike Murphy on the right wing, who assisted Woltemade’s game-clinching goal, Barnes would fail to deliver a single accurate cross all night to the head of the towering striker.

To add insult to injury, the ex-Leicester City attacker would also go the entire contest without testing Johnstone with an on-target effort.

With Anthony Elanga waiting in the wings, it does appear that Barnes might be on borrowed time as Howe’s dependable left-wing option, with Newcastle now left to rue the departure of an enigmatic forward, who could have been a dream partner for Woltemade to bounce off of, over relying on the 27-year-old.

Newcastle must rue selling "breathtaking" Barnes upgrade

Barnes has shown glimpses of his immense quality donning Newcastle black and white, away from a slow start this season.

In particular, last campaign saw the former Foxes hero pick up nine goals and four assists in league action.

But, the alarm bells will be ringing now surrounding the Burnley-born forward, with a poor injury record also weighing heavily next to his tally of no goals and no assists from his opening four league clashes this time around.

In an ideal reality, Newcastle would love to have a “breathtaking” Allan Saint-Maximin back in their ranks, as he was once labelled by former Magpies boss Steve Bruce, as a Barnes upgrade, with the slick Frenchman always consistently entertaining the St James’ Park masses when situated on Tyneside.

Lauded as a “special” talent by Jamie Carragher when at the peak of his powers in England, Saint-Maximin would always have a piece of magic up his sleeve, even when Newcastle found themselves in the doldrums.

In total, the brand-new Club America number 97 would tally up 13 goals and 21 assists for Howe and Co. before moving on to Al Ahli in 2023.

On the contrary, while Barnes does boast one more Toon strike, he only has eight assists next to his name, with Saint-Maximin’s trickery, matched with his eye for an assist, potentially music to the ears of the lofty German if he were still lining up for Howe’s side today.

With two goals already tallied up at Club America from just one league start in Mexico, meaning he’s further started the season in better form than a low-key Barnes, it’s clear to see that Newcastle prematurely got rid of their “rare” talent – as he was once dubbed by Paul Robinson – particularly with Woltemade now in through the door.

Games played

111

Goals scored

12

Assists

19

Big chances created

29

At the time, however, cashing in Saint-Maximin for £30m might have been viewed as a smart move.

But, with the silky Frenchman previously creating big chances for fun in the Premier League, Woltemade could well have even more excellent service to depend on if Saint-Maximin were still at the Magpies, over Barnes failing to spark into life.