Eddie Howe makes Bruno Guimaraes fitness claim — and explains mass Newcastle United absences

Eddie Howe has explained why 16 players missed Newcastle United’s 2-1 friendly victory over Rayo Vallecano.

While the likes of Kieran Trippier and Nick Pope returned to the starting line-up after flying back from the Qatar World Cup, a mass number of senior stars were absent.

Among those left out were Joelinton, Miguel Almiron and Dan Burn as Howe selected a bench made up of Mark Gillespie and under-21s players.

United won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Sean Longstaff and Chris Wood where Lewis Miley, Jay Turner-Cooke and Dylan Stephenson were handed further first team minutes after their cameo against Al-Hilal last week.

Explaining the thinking behind his team selection, Howe said: “We just wanted to get longer game time into the players that played. When you’ve got a lot of players available, not everyone can get 90 minutes then you have to decide how you want to manage the squad so we manage it in different ways today. It’s a delicate balancing act for us.

“Some players with no training load have come back from the World Cup. It’s just trying to get everyone in the right place.”

It is understood Howe split up his squad after Newcastle hosted a behind-closed-doors training game on Friday, where most of the big-name omissions featured.

Bruno Guimaraes, Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson have also returned from the World Cup and have been back at the club’s training ground in the last few days.

Asked about his World Cup stars, Howe said: “Everybody is coming back at different times and stages with different things behind them. We’re having to manage that situation and try and get the players fit as quickly as possible without putting them at risk of injury.

“It’s been a slightly unusual time for us with players coming back at different stages with different needs. Today reflected that. Hopefully, the players that played got what they needed and they’re all a step closer to being fit and ready to play.”

Asked specifically about Guimaraes’ fitness, Howe said: “Bruno, again, is a player we haven’t seen much of but he’s such an important player for us that we need to get his training load right and make sure that when he is fit and available, he’s at his very best. He’s fine, no problems with him.”