New study shows Newcastle United injury crisis put Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron at risk

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Newcastle United suffered an injury crisis last season that threatened to derail the club’s progress.

The injury record at St James’ Park last season was nothing short of disastrous. Long-term injuries to the likes of Sven Botman and Joelinton were followed by a flurry of setbacks that left Eddie Howe with next to no options.

Newcastle United ranked highest in days lost and most games missed according to data from PremierInjuries. Between the first-team squad, players missed a staggering 245 games due to injury.

The extra games from the Champions League certainly didn’t help and at times Howe was left trying to desperately keep things on track.

Newcastle eventually rallied to finish seventh in the Premier League, but Manchester United’s FA Cup win means that there will be no European football at St James’ Park this summer.

New study shows Newcastle star duo were at risk

Because of the long list of injuries at Newcastle last season, Howe had no option other than to play the same handful of players every single week.

That was certainly the case for Bruno Guimaraes, who played more minutes than any other Newcastle player last season with 3,263 – including 37 starts.

The Brazilian midfielder stepped up when Newcastle needed him the most and his efforts saw him rewarded with the captain’s armband this season.

A new study by FIFPRO into the workload demands of modern players highlights that Guimaraes and teammate Miguel Almiron played far too many consecutive games last season.

Almiron played 17 games back-to-back over a span of 59 days last season, which ranked him third in world football in terms of the longest successive streak of games.

Guimaraes followed closely behind with 16 successive games over 55 days, placing him fifth in the charts.

According to FIFPRO’s 2022 Player and High Performance Coaches surveys, players should not exceed four to six consecutive games at any point in a season.

Clearly, Newcastle relied far too much on both Guimaraes and Almiron and it put both players at high risk of sustaining injury.

Remarkably, Guimaraes got through the entire 2023-24 season without an injury, whereas Almiron suffered a knee injury in March which ruled him out for 34 games.

Newcastle have taken steps to solve injury crisis

Last season’s Newcastle squad was the third-oldest on average in the Premier League but the Magpies have freshened up their squad with the signings of Lewis Hall, Lloyd Kelly and William Osula, while waving goodbye to Matt Ritchie and Ryan Fraser.

Newcastle also took a deep dive into their injury issues towards the end of last season to try and find the root of their problems.

READ MORE: ‘Unique’ Newcastle United player is now back in training after injury

There have already been injury problems this season with Lewis Miley, Callum Wilson and Joe Willock out – as well as long-term absentees Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles – but hopefully things don’t turn out as poorly as the last campaign.

With better depth across the board, hopefully the likes of Guimaraes and Almiron can be afforded more rest days this season.