Bruno Guimaraes: Will He Stay or Go?
Eddie Howe knows the question is coming before he even sits down.
Bruno Guimaraes. Stay or go?
Newcastle’s head coach has spoken to his captain “before the World Cup, during the World Cup and after the World Cup”. The conversations have been positive, the relationship strong. But on the one thing supporters crave most, Howe cannot play to the gallery.
“I don't know what's going to happen with Bruno's future,” he said after Newcastle’s 1-1 draw at Gateshead in their opening pre-season friendly. “That's for other people to speculate about. They are conversations that I'm not part of.”
A captain at the centre of a storm
The noise is real. BBC Sport reported this week that Arsenal are preparing a £70m offer for the Brazil midfielder. Newcastle, who have already lost Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon in the past year, do not want to see their captain follow them out of the door.
So Howe walks the tightrope. Honest, but careful.
“What we speak about has to remain private, but he's just a great player, a great person,” he said. “Bruno is the captain of our football club. He's been an unbelievable player and person all through the time we have worked together.
“I speak on behalf of everyone at the football club. We absolutely love him and, of course, everyone will want him to stay.”
For now, Guimaraes is on holiday, taking a breather with his family after Brazil’s shock last-16 World Cup exit to Norway earlier this month. The plan is straightforward: he returns to Newcastle on Friday, then flies out with the squad for a pre-season camp in Spain.
Until that changes, Howe is clinging to it.
Asked whether this could turn into a repeat of last summer, when Liverpool’s pursuit of Isak ended with the striker pushing to leave, Howe pushed back. “You've got to look at it in its own right,” he insisted. There is, he stressed, “nothing to say Bruno won't be back training with us”.
The subtext is clear. Newcastle cannot control the market. They can control their message.
Midfield ripped up, rebuilt on youth
The uncertainty around Guimaraes comes at a delicate moment in Newcastle’s rebuild. Tonali has already gone, joining Tottenham in a deal worth up to £100m. The midfield that once looked like the spine of a long-term project has been stripped in a year.
In its place, a gamble. A calculated one, but a gamble all the same.
Newcastle have pivoted sharply this summer towards youth, scouring the continent for talent aged 20 and under. Sean Steur from Ajax. Aladji Bamba from Monaco. Ewen Jaouen and Bazoumana Toure added to the mix.
It is a bold strategy and an unforgiving league.
Bamba, whose move was only announced on Friday, was not ready in time to feature at Gateshead. Steur was. The 18-year-old Dutchman played the full 90 minutes and impressed his new manager.
“He played really well today,” Howe said. “He can be really pleased with his performance and first showing in Newcastle colours.”
Steur’s arrival is a statement in itself. It is rare for an Ajax academy graduate to leave at 18, rarer still for a fee that could rise to £23m. Newcastle have chosen to get there early, to buy potential before it “explodes in value and is out of reach”.
The talent is not in doubt. Willem Weijs, who coached Steur at Jong Ajax, has called him “one of the highest-rated” players in their academy. Against National League opposition there were flashes of why: crisp first touches, an easy composure in tight areas, the vision to slide passes between lines.
But flashes are only that. The Premier League is a different sport in everything but name.
Weijs has already pointed to the next step in Steur’s evolution. “He's outstanding in his first touches and creating options when playing a possession game,” he said. “He's good at scanning; really comfortable on the ball; really good in tight spaces.
“He's a typical Dutch-type midfield player, but he should focus on his points to develop as well, which is for sure the defensive part.
“He should compete better in the duels, spending much more time in the gym. I know he's working on that, but he can improve and he has to improve.”
That is the reality of Newcastle’s new market. High ceiling, long runway.
Why Bruno matters more than ever
All of which explains why Guimaraes has become even more central to Howe’s thinking. In a squad suddenly skewed towards youth, he is the organiser, the standard-setter, the player who can carry the weight while others learn how to stand.
Newcastle’s recruitment team are betting on tomorrow. Howe has to survive today.
“We all need to be very supportive to the players that have come in,” he said. “I don't think we can put too much pressure on them. It's part of my job to try and take the pressure off them and allow them to develop and to enjoy their time here.”
That job becomes far harder if the captain at the heart of it all is prised away.
For now, the situation sits in a holding pattern. Guimaraes will fly back from holiday, rejoin his team-mates and board a plane to Spain. Arsenal’s interest hangs in the background, a constant hum.
Newcastle have chosen their path: young, continental, ambitious. Whether they can walk it without their talisman in the middle of the pitch may define the next phase of Howe’s project.
