Eddie Howe won’t reintegrate two senior players into Newcastle squad despite injury crisis

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Newcastle United are struggling to cope with the number of injuries in midfield but Eddie Howe is still refusing to bring back two former first-team players.

For some it may seem like an obvious choice to try and reintegrate Isaac Hayden and Jeff Hendrick into the squad given the need for midfielders in the team.

However, a new report from The Athletic has suggested that Howe is not looking for a traditional defensive midfielder and believes that Bruno Guimaraes is the perfect player for the role he wants him to play.

Howe doesn’t want a defensive midfielder at Newcastle

Despite many fans calling out for Newcastle to sign a traditional defensive midfielder over the past few weeks, Howe clearly doesn’t feel like that is a necessity to add to the team in January.

It’s certainly a strange decision when you look at some of the mistakes that have led to goals recently with a big gap in Newcastle’s midfield costing them dearly, most recently against Man City.

But Howe is of the opinion that Bruno is more suited to that role and therefore isn’t looking to replace him but instead wants to add depth in other areas on the pitch.

He therefore doesn’t want to bring someone like Hayden back into the fold as there wouldn’t be a place for him in the team given the role he plays, so the 28-year-old is expected to leave on loan again with a number of Championship clubs interested.

Newcastle still need January additions

Whether or not Howe thinks Bruno is the perfect No. 6 for him is largely irrelevant as Newcastle desperately need midfield reinforcements in January regardless.

Whether that be in a more attacking role, a more of a box-to-box player or someone who can support Bruno as a more defensively-minded midfielder, they just need numbers in that area.

The return of Joe Willock and Elliot Anderson next month will be a big help, but it will still be a huge risk to go the rest of the season with no more additions given the length of Joelinton’s injury.

Newcastle are monitoring a number of names and have been very keen on bringing in Kalvin Phillips this month, but it all relies on how much there is in the budget to spend in January.