Bruno Guimaraes is unlikely to make his full Newcastle United debut against Brentford this coming weekend, according to journalist Jordan Cronin.
The lowdown
Newcastle are set to travel to the Brentford Community Stadium to face their relegation rivals on Saturday afternoon.
Guimaraes, whose arrival from Lyon was confirmed on the penultimate day of the January transfer window, was the most expensive of Newcastle’s mid-season arrivals at £40m. Indeed, The Athletic’s Chris Waugh dubbed the Brazilian PIF’s first ‘marquee signing’ since taking over on Tyneside.
The 24-year-old made Eddie Howe’s matchday squad for the last three Premier League games against Everton, Aston Villa and West Ham, but was only given very brief substitute appearances in each.
The latest
Newcastle World journalist Cronin took to Twitter on Monday evening to share a link to an article for that publication, stating: “There will come a time when #NUFC introduce Bruno G into their starting XI – but it isn’t likely to be Brentford.”
In his attached piece for Newcastle World, he explained that the midfield trio of Jonjo Shelvey, Joelinton and Joe Willock are simply looking ‘undroppable’ at present, with the £40m January signing set to be left ‘frustrated’ once more in west London on Saturday.
The verdict
Howe admits that Guimaraes will likely be ‘frustrated’ with his lack of starts, having been afforded so little time on the pitch so far, but it’s worth stressing that it’s very early days for the 24-year-old at Newcastle.
The manager expects the Brazilian midfielder to be a ‘huge player’ this season, and beyond that, he could well be one of the players around whom Newcastle build their team for the long-term. After all, he is still quite young and is under contract for a full four-and-a-half years.
Perhaps we should expect to see Guimaraes steadily increase his minutes from the bench (he has come on after the 87th minute in each game so far) before Howe throws in him from the start, although injury to any one of the currently preferred midfield three could also open the door for the £40m man to eventually get his full Magpies debut.
In other news, Dean Jones refuses to rule out one potential ‘unbelievable’ signing for NUFC