Garth Crooks is spot on - Newcastle United 'can't do without' star man linked with £100m summer exit

Where would Newcastle United be without Bruno Guimaraes? It’s hard to say for certain - nigh on impossible to compute all the counterfactual permutations to bring together the disparate strands of a concrete answer - but in the immediate aftermath of the Brazilian’s late winner against Fulham, we can safely presume that were it not for Bruno, the Magpies would be at least a couple of points worse off.

In a Premier League campaign that looks set to come down to the wire in all kinds of ways, the difference between a win and a draw in an innocuous fixture at Craven Cottage could be the fine margin on which Newcastle’s hopes of European qualification hinges. Now eighth in the table, but with a game in hand over West Ham above them, a return to the continent next season under some guise or other is very much on the cards.

And if Eddie Howe’s men make the cut, Guimaraes will have played a significant part in getting them there. On Saturday afternoon, he played the role of match winner, but far beyond that, the 26-year-old has established himself as a presence that the Magpies rely on monumentally.

Indeed, that is the view of BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks, who included Guimaraes in his Team of the Week, stating: ‘He's been a revelation for the team since he arrived at St James' Park. The fans love him and his team can't do without him. Guimaraes scored Newcastle's winner against Fulham on his 100th appearance for the club. Manager Eddie Howe's impromptu pep talk during the first half, where he pulled his players together and gave them what appeared to be a rocket, seemed to do the trick.

‘This has been a difficult season for the Magpies and they navigated the first part of it very well. However, if Newcastle are going to compete with the best teams, they will need a bigger squad and with Financial Fair Play rules hovering over everyone's head it's going to be very difficult to assemble the squad their owners can clearly afford.’

Quite aside from his four goals and five assists this season, Guimaraes is the fulcrum on which so much of Newcaste’s good work pivots. He is creative and combative in equal measure, like a maestro conductor wielding a truncheon, and the stats go a long, long way towards supporting Crooks’ claims of his importance to the Magpies’ cause.

Since Guimaraes made his Toon debut, the club have contested 86 Premier League fixtures, with the South American featuring in 79 of those clashes. Their win percentage with him in the side sits at a healthy 55.7%. Their win percentage without him is 0%.

In the seven top flight matches Guimaraes has missed, Newcastle have drawn four, lost three, recording just 0.6 points per game compared to their usual average of 1.9, and scoring just 0.6 goals per game compared to their Bruno-boosted mean of, again, 1.9. Illustrations rarely come more startling.

It is arguably for these reasons, as well as the ever-looming spectre of Financial Fair Play, that Guimaraes is so vehemently linked with a big money move away from St. James’ Park on the regular. The likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool lurk in the shadows, flick knives at the ready, toothpicks hanging from their snarls.

But alongside all three points, Guimaraes intervention on Saturday also provided Newcastle with a timely reminder of something that every Geordie would tell you in a heartbeat; Bruno simply cannot be allowed to leave.