The real reason Bruno Guimaraes hasn’t started a game for Newcastle United yet | OneFootball

Bruno Guimaraes was one of five players Newcastle United signed in January.

As well as Matt Targett on loan, United brought in Dan Burn, Chris Wood and Kieran Trippier, on top of the 24 year old midfielder from Lyon.

Naturally, Bruno Guimaraes seen as the most exciting of the five, set to be the club’s new record transfer, having signed for an initial £35m and with another £6.65m set to be paid in the future depending on hitting targets, the main one being Newcastle United staying in the Premier League. A final total transfer fee set to be £41.65m.

However, Bruno Guimaraes still yet to start a Newcastle United match, unlike the other four January signings.

Chris Wood having started four Premier League matches for Newcastle, Kieran Trippier four, then two starts each for Dan Burn and Matt Targett.

When Bruno Guimaraes was named on the bench against West Ham on Saturday, the Chronicle ran an absolutely disgraceful headline, claiming Newcastle fans were ‘losing patience’ with Eddie Howe due to him not selecting the Brazilian in his starting eleven.

Sunday 30 January 2022:

Signs for Newcastle United (whilst on international duty with Brazil).

Wednesday 2 February 2022:

Comes on as a sub for Brazil in Belo Horizonte in World Cup group qualifier, gets first assist for his country in 4-0 win over Paraguay.

Friday 4 February 2022:

Flies to Tyneside and has brief training session on St James Park pitch.

Monday 7 February 2022:

Bruno Guimaraes is presented to the media as a Newcastle United press conference.

Tuesday 8 February 2022:

With Newcastle leading Everton 3-1, comes on for the very stages after one minute of added time played.

Sunday 13 February 2022:

With Newcastle leading Aston Villa 1-0, comes for the very late stages after two minutes of added time played.

Saturday 19 February 2022:

With Newcastle drawing 1-1 at West Ham, Bruno Guimaraes comes on for the final two minutes of normal time.

I think fair to say Newcastle fans are in a state of high anticipation in terms of finally seeing Bruno Guimaraes starting for United, but ‘losing patience’, I very much don’t think so.

I think this is the real truth and key, as to why Eddie Howe hasn’t yet started Bruno Guimaraes.

Bottom line is that the Newcastle United Head Coach wants to give the Brazil international the very best possible chance of hitting the ground running, when he eventually does get named in the starting eleven.

So many times in the past, Newcastle fans have seen relatively big money signings, especially those from overseas, thrown straight into the team and the outcome being disappointment for both new signing and fans. Indeed, by doing this it has appeared to actually ruin entire Newcastle careers for new signings, by throwing them immediately into action, instead of giving them time to get used to their new surroundings and be primed for when they do eventually get into the first team.

At properly run clubs, this isn’t what they do, or very rarely anyway. If making big money signings who have never played in the Premier League before, they are given time to integrate. It is all about the bigger picture and not just the immediate next match.

Imagine if four days after first stepping foot in Newcastle Upon Tyne and after only a couple of proper training sessions, Bruno Guimaraes had been thrown straight in against Everton and it had all gone wrong? The player wouldn’t have felt great, the fans wouldn’t feel so good either, whilst the media would be all over it and loving it. Superstar Brazilian flop etc etc after one game. We know how they work.

The game against Aston Villa, only a few more training sessions later and only nine days after first landing in Newcastle, again, surely not the biggest surprise that he wasn’t set loose just yet, especially after two wins in a row for Howe’s side.

Then after three Premier League wins in a row, the first time Newcastle had done this since 2018 when Rafa Benitez was in charge, why exactly would any normal fan (or journalist) be ‘losing patience’ with Eddie Howe for his team selections? A very good display at West Ham where the home side were lucky to escape with a point and Joe Willock, scoring an excellent goal and arguably man of the match, Willock the player probably seen as most likely to be replaced by Bruno Guimaraes. Once again though, worth pointing out that even that West Ham match was only 15 days after Bruno Guimaraes had first set foot in our great city and stadium.

What has happened as well, is that the other players have bought Eddie Howe and Bruno Guimaraes time. If Newcastle United were on a losing run and playing poorly, then yes, Howe may well have felt forced into playing his big money signing against West Ham, or even maybe last week against Villa, if United had been deep in the relegation zone.

Nobody is pretending Newcastle United are safe now…BUT…if Bruno Guimaraes was for example selected on Saturday for his first Newcastle start, he would come into that Brentford match and find a team brimming over with momentum and confidence, whilst Bruno himself will be far more ready to do the business as compared to three weeks earlier when he’d just arrived.

So often under Steve Bruce, you were forced to hold your breath as he took chances / risks with players coming back from injury, Allan Saint-Maximin particularly springs to mind as a prime example. ASM appearing to be brought back too quickly more than once under Bruce and ending up spending a longer time out injured.

Much has been made, rightly so, of Eddie Howe’s game management during matches, well I think his player management has been very impressive as well. Reading between the lines, I think ASM could well have played at West Ham on Saturday, but at the same time it could / would have been a potentially unnecessary risk. Despite injuries in the defence, Eddie Howe also decided not to start Dan Burn against Everton due to a toe injury and instead named him on the bench. If Burn had been thrown into that Everton match despite the toe injury issue, would we then have seen him so absolutely outstanding in these next two matches against Villa and West Ham? You will never know for sure BUT in my opinion, by doing the brave thing and waiting, we fully benefited on Dan Burn.

As for Bruno Guimaraes?

Well, I think that whether it is Saturday at Brentford, or later, we will see our Brazil international really hit the ground running on his first Newcastle United start. By then more used to his new teammates, a few less language problems, far more integrated and ready to play in a confident team.

I think that time is coming because Bruno Guimaraes is too good to be kept on the bench much longer, if at all. Plus, whilst I do think other players have done pretty well in midfield and further forward in this recent run, I certainly don’t think it is a case of ‘undroppable’ individuals, we are not suddenly Brazil 1970 or Barcelona at their peak with Lionel Messi.

For me, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it possibly being Bruno Guimaraes not replacing the likes of Shelvey, Willock or Joelinton. Despite doing better to an extent, I still see Ryan Fraser as one of the weaker players for Newcastle, so Bruno in for him and ASM back in for Jacob Murphy could just maybe see Eddie Howe refresh his team at Brentford and put them out in a bit of a change of formation as well.

Whatever the case, I can’t wait to see Bruno Guimaraes doing his stuff for Newcastle United and I’m sure that when he does, the midfielder will live up to expectations.

However, in Eddie we trust, when it comes down to when he introduces this exciting signing to the Newcastle United starting eleven.