Newcastle United fans will love the type of player Eddie Howe is eyeing this summer

While Eddie Howe’s current focus lies away from the summer transfer window, the Newcastle United head coach confirmed the intention to sign more players like Bruno Guimaraes.

The Magpies jumped in ahead of several European clubs in January to bring the highly-rated midfielder to St James’ Park in a deal worth around £35million from Lyon.

Indeed, the Brazilian, in his 11 appearances so far, has lived up to the hype, not just with his class on the pitch but off it too, something Howe believes is an extremely important trait.

Howe wants to recruit not just good footballers, but good characters - citing Guimaraes as a prime example, who has already endeared himself to his teammates and the Geordie fanbase.

‘We need to bring in players with a similar mindset’

“Personally, I give that the highest rating,” Howe told reporters ahead of Wednesday evening’s clash with Crystal Palace. “It’s so important you get good people in the dressing room.

“All the characteristics that go into making a good footballer/ team player - I think Bruno has all those.

“His weekend and his life are judged on the team winning or losing, not whether he plays well or not.

“If we are going to recruit players, we’re going to need to bring in players with a similar mindset.”

Doing due diligence on players

Howe clearly does his homework on players. It’s no coincidence that fellow January signings Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Matt Targett and Dan Burn have slotted in seamlessly. Indeed, only Liverpool have picked up more points on Newcastle since deadline day.

How does Howe do his due diligence on potential new signings?

“It’s probably the most difficult part of recruitment because you see the player on a video or live at a game,” Howe admits. “The person, away from the pitch, you can’t see.

“(We have) various methods and means of trying to do our research and make sure we find out everything we can about the person.

“Even then, you’re still taking an interest in terms of how they’re going to be when interacting with their own teammates who they haven’t met yet and how those relationships will fall.

“Thankfully, Bruno has developed good friendships already and that’s helped him settle.”

‘St James’ Park a great advert for us’

It’s set to be another busy summer on Tyneside with Howe likely to hold talks with potential new signings.

As well as revealing the exciting plans the new Saudi Arabian-backed owners have for the club, Howe believes the St James’ Park atmosphere can also be a selling point.

Just take Sunday’s 2-1 win over Leicester City for example. The stadium was covered in flags and the noise generated from both of Guimaraes’ goals - especially the injury- time winner - was deafening.

"It’s a great advert for us,” Howe said.

“Anyone looking at that game and seeing those pictures and seeing the stadium, the feeling, the connection between the supporters and the emotion shown at the end of the game can’t help be inspired by it or motivated to try and experience it.

“We’ll use everything we can if we need to try and attract players when that becomes the priority but, at the moment, it isn’t. At the moment, it’s about trying to recreate that again against Crystal Palace if possible."