Newcastle United’s recent upturn in form is made even more impressive by the fact that marquee January signing Bruno Guimaraes has not made his first start for the club yet.
The 24-year-old has been brought on for very late cameo appearances in the two Premier League matches since his arrival from Lyon but is yet to be trusted from the start.
His new team mates have won both of those games, against Everton and Aston Villa, with the current midfield trio particularly impressing.
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Jonjo Shelvey, Joe Willock and Joelinton have all made it impossible for Eddie Howe to drop them and they are likely to be trusted again for the trip to West Ham on Saturday.
Ahead of the match, the Newcastle boss responded to a question about Guimaraes’ involvement by saying: “"Bruno will start a lot of games for us and will be a huge player.
"I don't think this period where he's watching and learning from the Premier League is a bad thing for him although it will frustrate him because he wants to show his talent."
“[The midfield] is a really strong area, probably our strongest in terms of personnel. Every player would have an argument to say I deserve to start so long may that continue."
While the three-game winning streak has more than justified Howe’s decision to keep Guimaraes on the bench, it would likely have been the Magpies boss’ strategy regardless.
It would be very complex for a player of his profile to immediately adapt to the intensity of a Premier League relegation battle given the difference of Lyon’s situation in Ligue 1, a division notoriously slower in tempo.
The 24-year-old has shown in his extremely brief cameos that he has the quality to excel in English football but watching from up close, as mentioned in the press conference, is important.
Howe is also not the first Premier League manager to consider holding a big-money signing back from instant exposure to the team.
Those consistently competing for the title in recent seasons, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, regularly practise similar methods with their new players.
That has been evident with the latter with the way in which he has used Diogo Jota since he arrived from Wolves in the summer transfer window in 2020.
The £40m that Liverpool spent on the Portuguese forward left supporters thinking he would form part of the key attacking trio alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
However, despite the Premier League experience he picked up with Wolves, he played just 19 times in the league for the Reds last season.
He has already featured in 23 Premier League games this term with the potential there for him to make another 13 before the end of the campaign.
It has been a similar story for Ibrahima Konate who was Liverpool’s marquee signing of last summer, arriving from RB Leipzig for £36m.
Klopp has chosen to start the French centre back on just seven occasions in the league this season and he is unlikely to be involved in too many more given the presence of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip at Anfield.
Meanwhile, Guardiola has also been doing the same thing for years at Manchester City. Jack Grealish is the best of the recent examples as he has started 15 of his side’s 25 league matches this season after making a staggering £100m switch in the summer.
Similarly to Jota, he would have been more than capable of making more appearances considering the impact he had for Aston Villa in the Premier League in the last few years.
Despite Guardiola finding continued success in his coaching methods, he found out the pitfalls of such patience with Ferran Torres who wanted to pursue a move to Barcelona as a result of a lack of regular game time at the Etihad.
He was signed at the beginning of last season and started just 14 Premier League matches in his debut campaign.
Prior to his January departure to Catalonia, he featured in just four games in the league and his pursuit of first-team football elsewhere is something Howe is totally aware of in his situation with Guimaraes.
Comparing Manchester City’s squad with Newcastle’s is far from a fair comparison and the Brazilian midfielder has certainly been brought to the club to eventually play every weekend.
He is likely to be very understanding of Howe’s stance given the fact that he has joined in the midst of the club’s best run of form for over three years.
Although, should the wins turn back to draws or defeats, Guimaraes might grow impatient if he is still unable to break into the starting XI.
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