BRUNO STARS
Bruno Guimaraes brings no-frills versatility to Newcastle but may not have skills to be world star, says Tim Vickery
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SOUTH America is currently in the middle of an extra pair of World Cup qualifiers - but it could well have helped Newcastle’s signing of Bruno Guimaraes.
The Brazilian midfielder is currently on national team duty.
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Eleven of the Brazil squad play their football in England, and it is probable that they helped him sort out a dilemma.
At Lyon, where he is well established, has developed well and can look forward to European club competition.
Should he give this up for a battle against relegation from the Premier League and the prospect of second tier football in England?
It is hard for a Brazilian to be aware of the size, tradition and importance of Newcastle.
Brazil’s Premier League contingent have surely told him tales of the atmosphere at St James Park, and the 24-year-old midfielder seems ready to become a magpie.
At a reported £35million with more to come in add ons, this magpie is not a steal.
But his arrival is good news for Newcastle fans - especially with the club in its present predicament.
Bruno Guimaraes is a big character, strong, competitive and determined, the type to step up at key moments - exactly the kind of player to cope with the pressures of a relegation struggle.
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He made his name with Atletico Paranense in the southern city of Curitiba, playing a key role in the 2019 conquests of the Brazilian Cup and the Copa Sudamericana, the Europa League equivalent.
For a while he was under-valued in Brazil.
He is not a player if fancy flicks and tricks, but a midfield all-rounder who operates from box to box, covering space, winning the ball, organising the play and linking up with the attacking line.
It was easy to over-look his no-frills versatility.
Lyon saw that he had the skills and the physicality to cope with European football, and he has risen to the challenge.
It has not always been easy.
His limitations were exposed in 2020, in that Portuguese bubble where the final rounds of the Champions League were played.
Lyon surprised Manchester City, but Guimaraes was taken off early.
City’s pressing game was too much for him - and much the same was true of Bayern Munich in the next round.
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The midfielder was substituted at the interval after failing to make any impression on a game that was taking place too fast for him.
The experience gave him food for thought, and he responded well.
Reports indicate that he knuckled down to improve his French during the Covid lockdown, and he has clearly been working on his weaker left foot.
He may not be able to move the ball quickly enough to become a truly world class central midfielder, and it will be interesting to see how he copes with those Premier League sides which press with most ferocity.
Brazil clearly think he is moving in the right direction.
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Newcastle's new boy was part of the team that won the Olympic gold medal last year, but his senior experience is limited to fifteen minutes off the bench in a World Cup qualifier at home to Peru in September.
He was left out of the squad for the games in October and November, but has now been recalled - and after Tuesday’s game against Paraguay he looks set to be the squad’s twelfth Premier League player.
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