There have been plenty of brilliant players at Newcastle United in recent years but Bruno Guimaraes continues to stand out above them all.
For most of the early part of the PIF era, it was Guimaraes who received the plaudits as Newcastle United transformed their fortunes under Eddie Howe.
Still, as the team progressed, the brilliance of the Brazilian was perhaps taken for granted from those outside the Newcastle bubble.
If you could voice one concern to Eddie Howe about Newcastle United right now, what would it be?
Yes, I know we won, but let's not pretend that was great 😂
At varying points over the PIF era at Newcastle, the likes of Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Tino Livramento have all been praised ahead of the midfielder.
Though Guimaraes clearly isn’t perfect, there’s a strong case to argue that his continued excellence is being treated as a given.
Indeed, where Newcastle would be without him is a rather scary prospect.
Statistics prove that Newcastle United would be fighting relegation without Bruno Guimaraes
Guimaraes is far more important than goals and assists.
For example, he ranks within the top five in the Newcastle United squad this season for tackles, key passes, shots and fouls drawn per game.
Goal contributions simply do not measure just how crucial he is in every aspect of Newcastle’s brand of football.
An actual look at the goals, however, do further underline that point.
We need to talk about Sandro Tonali….
What is going on with him?! Can anyone remember when he last had a good game?
Guimaraes has scored game-winning goals in the Premier League on two occasions this season, against Nottingham Forest and Fulham.
That’s without even mentioning the stunning goal at home to Burnley in December that settled a few nerves, as well as his opener against Tottenham later that month.
His strikes have directly resulted in Newcastle getting six points. Without those points, they’d be sitting 16th in the Premier League table on 20 points, level with Leeds, and above the relegation zone by only three places.
Bruno Guimaraes escapes Premier League ban in huge boost for Newcastle United
Guimaraes is arguably Newcastle’s most important player, and they have an absolutely dreadful record without him in the side.
In the ten Premier League games he hasn’t started since joining the club in January 2022, Newcastle are winless in all of them.
Thankfully for Howe, Guimaraes has now avoided a Premier League suspension for Sunday’s clash at home to Crystal Palace.
The combative midfielder amassed four yellow cards before the 19-game mark (halfway through the season) and would have been banned for Sunday’s clash if he had been booked against Burnley.
Guimaraes avoided one against Burnley on Tuesday and the slate has now been wiped clean, unless he reaches ten by the 32-game mark.
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