Bruno Guimaraes' Future at Newcastle: What Eddie Howe Says
Eddie Howe knows exactly what Bruno Guimaraes means to Newcastle United. He just can’t promise he’ll be here to lead them into the new season.
After a scruffy 1-1 pre-season draw at Gateshead, the head coach cut a calm but realistic figure as questions about his captain’s future dominated the afternoon. Arsenal are expected to test Newcastle’s resolve with a £70m bid for the Brazil midfielder, and the tension around Tyneside is beginning to hum.
Howe has spoken to Guimaraes repeatedly over the summer — before, during and after the World Cup — and those conversations, he insists, have been positive.
"What we speak about has to remain private," he said. "But he's just a great player, a great person."
Then came the line that will chill Newcastle supporters.
"I don't know what's going to happen with Bruno's future. That's for other people to speculate about. They are conversations that I'm not part of."
A captain at the crossroads
Guimaraes has been on holiday with his family since Brazil’s last-16 exit to Norway earlier this month, a shock that cut short his World Cup and gave Newcastle an anxious summer subplot. He is due back on Friday, when he is expected to fly with the squad to Spain for a pre-season training camp.
For now, he remains the heartbeat of Howe’s project. The captain. The talisman. The player Newcastle “absolutely love”, as Howe put it, speaking not just for himself but for the club as a whole.
Newcastle do not want to sell. They have already been bruised by the departures of Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon over the past year, three pillars of a side that had been built for the long haul. Losing Guimaraes would feel different again — a symbolic blow as much as a tactical one.
Comparisons have been drawn with Liverpool’s chase of Isak last summer, a pursuit that ended with the striker pushing to leave. Howe bristled at the idea this is history repeating.
"You've got to look at it in its own right," 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."
Pressed on whether Guimaraes might not return, Howe was clear on one point: "There is nothing to say Bruno won't be back training with us."
For Newcastle, that counts as hope.
A new midfield, built on risk
Hope is needed, because the midfield around Guimaraes has been ripped up.
Tonali has gone to Tottenham in a deal worth up to £100m, a move that leaves a creative and emotional gap in the centre of the pitch. To fill it, Newcastle have pivoted sharply in the market, targeting youth and upside rather than ready-made stars.
Two of those bets were on show — or nearly on show — at Gateshead.
Sean Steur, an 18-year-old midfielder from Ajax, played the full 90 minutes and immediately offered a glimpse of why Newcastle were willing to pay up to £23m for an academy graduate who had not yet broken through at senior level. Aladji Bamba, signed from Monaco and announced only on Friday, watched on as the game came too soon for his debut.
"He played really well today," Howe said of Steur. "He can be really pleased with his performance and first showing in Newcastle colours."
Steur is an unusual case. Ajax do not often lose academy players at 18, and almost never for that kind of money. Newcastle have gambled that they are buying him before the explosion in value that has become the norm for Europe’s brightest young midfielders.
Those who know him best believe the talent is real. Willem Weijs, who coached him at Jong Ajax, has called him "one of the highest-rated" players in their academy. Against National League opposition there were flashes of that pedigree: sharp first touches, calm receiving the ball under pressure, a head constantly on the swivel, passing lanes opening as he scanned.
The rawness was there too. The Premier League will not be as forgiving, and Weijs has already flagged the obvious area for improvement — the defensive side, the duels, the physical edge that English football demands. More time in the gym. More bite. More steel to go with the silk.
Newcastle know this. That is the point of the new strategy: sign players at 18, 19, 20 from across the continent, then shape them. Steur, Bamba, Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure — all are long-term projects, not instant solutions.
Why keeping Bruno matters more than ever
That is precisely why Guimaraes matters so much. The more Newcastle tilt towards potential, the more they need a proven leader at the core of the team, someone who can carry the load while the next wave finds its feet.
"We all need to be very supportive to the players that have come in," Howe 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."
Strip away the politeness and the message is clear: this is a squad in transition. It is being rebuilt on younger legs and higher ceilings, but also on uncertainty. The margin for error shrinks if the captain walks away.
For now, Newcastle wait. Guimaraes will step off a plane on Friday and back into a club that has changed around him — Tonali gone, kids in his place, a fanbase clinging to the idea that their No 39 will still be the one dragging them through the rough patches.
Arsenal are circling. The market is restless. Newcastle’s strategy is shifting.
The question hanging over Tyneside is brutally simple: can this new, risk-heavy Newcastle really afford to lose the one player they can least afford to replace?
