The January signing from Lyon proved to be pivotal as the Magpies beat Wolves 1-0 to move further away from the relegation zone.

Edwards felt that with Jonjo Shelvey, Guimaraes and Joelinton in their team, Newcastle were able to dominate the middle of the park in the league encounter.

With star midfielder Neves missing from action, the job of manning the midfield went to young Luke Cundle and the 36-year-old could not help thinking that it proved to be too big a shoe to fill for the youngster.

“Newcastle had Shelvey, Guimaraes and Joelinton and they ran all over us”, Edwards wrote in his Express & Star column.

“I felt a bit sorry for Cundle, as a young lad you’re trying to feel your way into the game, keep the ball and he never got out of that.

“He played safe and that’s a big difference from a Neves playing, understandably.

“It was a great learning curve for Luke.

“He’s been chucked into Newcastle and Spurs away, two tough matches, he’ll learn enormously and be better for it, but it might be a little too soon for those big games, particularly away.”

Edwards was particularly impressed with Newcastle midfielder Guimaraes, having taken an up close look at him in the Wolves game.

He feels that the Brazil international made the difference and is essentially Newcastle’s version of Neves.

“Guimaraes was their big-money buy and he was the difference.

“Their version of Neves for us, with that quality.”

Newcastle are looking to build the team around Guimaraes as they look to kick on and progress up the Premier League standings.