Harvey Barnes first came onto the Premier League scene in January 2019 after a successful loan spell in the Championship with West Bromwich Albion. From the first few performances, it was clear to see the talent Barnes had, although he needed time to refine his raw skill set.
The opportunities to play under Brendan Rodgers — in a more complete tactical set-up — and complete a full season without pressure due to the failures of the previous manager allowed Barnes to display his talent.
In the three seasons since, Harvey Barnes has contributed to 43 goals in 93 Premier League games, whilst also being an integral part of 2 Europa League finishes and being on the brink of Champions League qualification. Barnes’ brilliant form earned him an England call-up at the end of 2020, which could possibly have led to regular call-ups. However, an unfortunate knee injury in March 2021 took his opportunity of being called up for the Euros. After a strong campaign, it has been difficult for anyone to replace the Euro finalists’ squad.
Barnes, and his teammate James Maddison, now only have 16 games left to convince Gareth Southgate of their usefulness to the squad and to attempt to carry Leicester back to European football.
Although this is unlikely, the talent is clear to see and only Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah earned more assists than Barnes’ tally of 10 in the last Premier League season.
This Harvey Barnes tactical analysis will detail exactly what makes Harvey Barnes so special, where he may need to improve and the tactics that have helped Barnes to thrive in his role.
Our analysis in this scout report will show why Harvey Barnes is ready to explode, and why some of the biggest teams in Europe should be keeping a close eye on him in this and future transfer windows.
Explosive Dribbling
Brendan Rodgers most commonly set his Leicester side up in a 4-2-3-1, with Barnes positioned high and wide on the left flank. From here, the likes of Maddison and James Justin or Luke Thomas would offer short passing opportunities. The heat map below is a result of his preference to stay wide, receive the ball and run at the opposition defence, twisting and turning to create space for himself.
One of Barnes’ strongest skills is his ability to beat his defender in 1v1 situations through his brilliant dribbling ability. Barnes can dribble with both his left and right foot, allowing him to be unpredictable when engaging defenders. Furthermore, he can quickly change direction to unbalance them whilst being agile and keeping his balance.
Harvey Barnes is also adept at slowing down to lure the defenders in, before knocking the ball beyond the opponent and breezing past them thanks to his strong running power. The example below shows Barnes appearing to be facing away from goal before quickly shifting the ball to his right foot and bursting through the two defenders who were expecting him to head towards the corner flag.
His ability to control the tempo by slowing down and speeding up play when he wants means that defenders either keep getting sucked in or have to back off and give him more space, which will allow him to get shots or passes off with more ease.
Another quality Barnes possesses is his close ball control which allows him to be comfortable on the ball in tight areas. Harvey can stop the ball with ease when necessary or touch the ball away from the defender when pressure is applied early. This image below shows his comfort on the ball and the confidence he has to play tricky passes in tight areas, even on the European stage.
One final aspect of Barnes’ dribbling which makes him difficult to deal with is his directness toward goal when he picks the ball up. Barnes enjoys grabbing the ball and driving at the goal whenever possible, meaning he is devastating in transitions or whenever he has space in front of him. His direct nature also allows him to regularly carry his team further up the pitch and keep the ball in more dangerous areas.
Increasing efficiency in the box
A big part of Barnes’ game is his strong finishing ability. In his first seasons, Barnes would often be wasteful in front of goal. This is a part of his game he has clearly worked on, scoring 15 goals in the past two seasons. During this time, he has shown impressive finishing ability by scoring in many different ways when presented with near identical scenarios.
Harvey Barnes has great ball striking, and it is something that he has displayed he can do with either foot. The ability to use either foot effectively is key to staying unpredictable and is one which he has displayed in his early Premier League career. In this image below, Barnes shuffles the ball onto his left foot before drilling it into the back of the net, not giving the goalkeeper much time to react although the shot was taken from outside the box.
Harvey Barnes has also displayed great composure in more recent games, not being rushed by defenders who are recovering. In his first season or two, Barnes would often panic when being pressed. This could lead to shots not being struck properly but recently he hasn’t been affected, which has led to more consistent finishing in 1v1 situations. One area that Barnes has not regularly been consistently performing well in is his decision-making in front of goal. At times, he has been a little greedy and gone for goal when there were perhaps more suitable options around him.
Creative playmaking
As shown before, only two players, Salah and Alexander-Arnold, achieved more Premier League assists than Barnes. His ability to create key goalscoring chances so regularly is one of the biggest things that separates Barnes from other quality wingers.
Harvey Barnes is particularly dangerous when combining play in tight areas. He has great awareness around him so it’s easy for him to know where his teammates are, and Barnes has the quality in his weight of pass to accurately play the ball to his teammates. The image below shows Barnes with his back to a teammate, yet still playing the pass into his path which leads to a goal, less than a minute after coming on the pitch.
In slightly deeper areas, Harvey Barnes has the range of passing to lift the ball over the opposition defence. Barnes has the vision to find the players attacking space, and the quality with his weight of pass to make the ball drop before getting close to the goalkeeper.
Harvey Barnes is equally strong in wide areas. On the touchline, Barnes can make the most of his strong dribbling to then create space for himself to cross the ball into the box. He has the quality to pick out the free man in the box, and what makes him so hard to stop is his accuracy to do so with either foot. Against Napoli, it is clear to see his quality as the ball perfectly drops at Ayoze Perez’s feet.
Athletic prowess
When playing in the strongest league in the world, you have to be equally good physically as you are technically. Harvey Barnes is quite strong despite his smaller frame and can hold off opposition defenders without being pushed off the ball.
Harvey Barnes can also be impossible to deal with at times due to his quick acceleration and powerful speed both on and off the ball. He is able to consistently attack the box, and attack space behind opposition defences thanks to his quick speed from a standing start, making it impossible for defenders to mark him throughout the entire game.
Another quality of Barnes’ is his great work rate and attitude to help the team get the results they need. He has lots of energy which allows him to constantly run at defenders throughout the whole game whilst also being able to regularly press with intensity. This image displays his great work ethic, and his anticipation skills to win the ball back in the final third before slotting the ball past the goalkeeper.
Conclusion
This scout report has clearly shown the different skills that Barnes possesses. He has a great mixture of passing and dribbling abilities which allows him to be a complete winger. He carries the ball and team up the pitch like a young Jack Grealish, whilst also having the quality in the final third to consistently either take defenders on, create goalscoring chances or shoot at goal. Barnes also has the running power and mobility to cover large distances in short spaces of time.
Whilst his decision-making hasn’t been at the level of the elite wide players in world football, it is something that he can definitely learn and improve upon to earn himself a big move to an elite team in England.
This is the season for Harvey Barnes to be seen as a frightening complete wide player, and he has the chance to explode on the world’s biggest stage. If he builds on the 16 goal contributions he managed last season, he will definitely be on some of England’s biggest clubs’ radar.
This is achievable, considering that last season, Leicester were an injury-stricken team. A season with fewer distractions and more consistent starting lineups will see Leicester improve on their performances from last season, and he should be targeting at least 20 goal contributions as long as he stays fit. A place on the plane to Qatar may seem unlikely, but it is not off the cards if he starts the season on fire and carries it on for the next 2 or 3 months.
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