Newcastle begin again under Matthias Jaissle, but the bigger question is how they cope if Bruno Guimarães is no longer at the centre of things. Since he broke into the team in 2022, Newcastle have won only two league games without him. That is the sort of record that explains why any talk of a clean reset feels a bit optimistic.

Newcastle's dependence on Bruno Guimaraes

Guimaraes was Newcastle's top scorer in the top flight last season, which tells you how much his influence stretched beyond standard midfield control. He has not just been the organiser in the middle, he has also been one of the main sources of output. Richard Jolly put it bluntly: "Since he broke into the team in 2022, they only won two league games without the Brazilian."

That is why the managerial change does not fully reset the picture. Jaissle may prove a smart appointment, as Jolly also wrote, but he is walking into a side whose best periods have been built around one midfielder. Newcastle finished 12th in the 2025 Premier League, and that places the rebuild in the middle of a wider rethink rather than a simple tweak.

The rest of the rebuild is still incomplete

There are other moving parts. Kieran Trippier left when his contract expired, and Jolly argued that with Trippier going, Newcastle lack alternatives to Hall and Livramento in the full-back roles. He added that with Guimaraes going, they may need another midfielder.

The recruitment picture does not make that job easier. The article also cites Sandro Tonali's £100m move to Tottenham and Anthony Gordon's £69m switch to Barcelona as major departures, while four newcomers aged 18 or 20 cost more than £100m between them. That is a lot of turnover, but not the kind that guarantees balance straight away.

Newcastle open against Liverpool, which is a sharp first test for a side still trying to settle its identity. If Guimaraes stays, they keep the player around whom their best work has revolved. If he goes, the rebuild stops being about new ideas and becomes about replacing the one midfielder they have struggled most to live without.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →