Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admitted he did not sign Bruno Guimaraes to score goals after seeing him snatch a dramatic victory over Leicester.
The 24-year-old Brazil international cancelled out Ademola Lookman’s opener with his second goal for the club before sealing a 2-1 win with his third in the fifth minute of stoppage time to ease the Magpies 12 points clear of the relegation zone.
Howe said: “Goals weren’t necessarily one of the areas where we felt he would enhance us as a team, but he has, he’s scored some key goals for us.
“I’m really, really pleased with him today. I thought he was magnificent in every aspect, especially out of possession because we struggled to get control of the ball today for any large periods of the game, so our defensive shape had to be very good and in part due to our three midfielders in there, it was very good.”
Guimaraes could eventually cost the Magpies in excess of £40million following his January move from Lyon, but he has already established himself as a cult hero on Tyneside.
Howe said: “He’s an incredibly passionate individual – I love that about him. He cares deeply whether we win or whether we lose and again, I love that about him because you need players that wear their heart on their sleeve and are prepared to give you everything on the pitch.
“He’s certainly one of those.”
The win was Newcastle’s fifth on the trot at St James’ Park and while how insists there is still work to be done, his celebrations after Guimaraes headed home substitute Joe Willock’s deflected cross at the death told their own story.
Asked if they were his wildest yet, the 44-year-old said: “I’m not a massive celebrator. I feel it inside, trust me. Everything’s kept in there because that’s just my personality I can’t let it spill out.
“It probably is, but I don’t think it was wild by any means. It’s still very contained considering the importance of the goal and the timing of it.
“But in my own way, that was quite extravagant.”
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers was left to reflect upon one that got away after seeing his much-changed side dominate possession for long periods, but fail to make it count.
He said: “You don’t always get what you deserve in football at times, and I think that was the case today.
“I thought we played very well in the game from a performance perspective. The second half, it was a case of controlling the game and for large parts of it, we did that and looked a real threat.
“I would have thought Eddie would have been happy with a point probably by the end, but for some reason, we failed to control the ball right at the very end of the game and if you don’t control the ball, you can’t control the game.
“We went direct with it and in the last throw of the game they break away and score, so we’re hugely disappointed in terms of the result, but lots of the performance was very, very good and that’s what we’ll take from the game.”
