Barnes: We're Ready & Raring To Go
- Leicester City travel to the Hawthorns to face West Bromwich Albion on Sunday (2pm kick-off)
- Academy graduate Harvey Barnes is excited to face a side which he enjoyed a loan spell with in 2018/19
- The Foxes youngster says the Club's first team are ready for the challenges 2020/21 will present
- Live coverage of the game begins at 12:30pm on LCFC TV's new-look Matchday Live show
The 22-year-old winger will return to the Hawthorns on Sunday two years after endearing himself to the Baggies faithful with a string of impressive performances on loan in 2018/19.
Now an established member of Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes side, Barnes says everyone at the Club is determined to make the 2020/21 season another one to savour for the Blue Army.
“This year, we want to have a great season, we’re looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s difficult to put your finger on, but we know our performances dropped at the end of last year.
“We dropped from the standards we set in the first half of the season and other teams were playing well, it’s as simple as that. We weren’t quite at our best.
“We have had less time to prepare this summer, but we also didn’t have as long off, so we hadn’t lost too much fitness when we came back.
Barnes Excited For West Brom Return
Harvey Barnes speaks ahead of returning to West Bromwich Albion, where he enjoyed a successful loan spell two seasons ago.
“We had a few weeks to shut down and spend time with family and friends, which was nice, but everyone was ready and raring to go and start the season.”
That shortened pre-season ends this weekend as the Premier League returns with a fixture which will see Barnes return to a big place in his own development over recent seasons.
The England Under-21s international scored nine Sky Bet Championship goals for the Baggies before being recalled mid-season two years ago and he is proud of his progress since then.
“I’ve always been at Leicester and your dream is to play for Leicester so each one of those loans takes you closer to that,” he explained. “It’s great to be part of the squad now.
“I feel like a big player in the team and I’m getting a lot of minutes at the moment.
“I’ve still got friends there and it’s my first time back there, so it’ll be nice to visit the stadium, but when we’re in the game, there’s no friends.
“I have only good feelings about West Brom. When you go out on loan, you just want to improve and help that team out.
“It’ll be nice, but it’s full focus for 90 minutes and then afterwards you can say hello to everyone.”
The return of top-flight football will not initially include supporters in stadia and Barnes admits both he and his team-mates are missing the Foxes faithful’s presence on matchday.
However, managing those unique circumstances are key, he says, even if Leicester’s players are looking forward to when the Club’s supporters will be permitted back into grounds.
“They’re a massive part of it,” he added. “Whether it’s going well or it’s going badly, they’re massive. They’re always there and it has changed since they’ve not been there, of course.
“As players, we’ve got to learn to adapt to it. I think we have slowly been doing it, but nobody’s going to perfect playing without them.
“It’s never easy, so all the players want them back as soon as they can, but it’s got to be the right time to do it.”
All times BST.