Newcastle United favourite Bruno Guimaraes has explained exactly how he wants to be used by Magpies boss Eddie Howe. The midfielder is currently in South America with the Brazilian national side, with Toon fans hopeful of seeing him in action against Chile and Bolivia in the coming days.
Guimaraes has made an impressive start to his career on Tyneside, earning high praise from the terraces despite starting just three games since he arrived. The former Lyon man has now made eight appearances in total as he starts to find his feet in England.
His display against Everton saw him effortlessly drift into pockets of space throughout the game, before lifting his head to see how he could move the play on. And he has a particular role in mind as he begins to forge a legacy at Newcastle.
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"Here I've done everything," he joked while speaking to Globo. "In the first three games I played in different positions. In the first, we played with two in the middle. In the second, we played with two midfielders. Then I played first man.
"I can do all the functions, I'm happy, but if I have a preference, I'd rather be second wheel. It was the role I played at Athletico-PR and Lyon. But I can also play first.
"(Versatility) is a big step. Even more if there are only 23 called up. To do more than one function is very important.
"I prefer to play as a second midfielder, but I play as shirt 10 and shirt 5. But the person who plays more than one role in modern football is always one step ahead."
The 'second wheel' position, or 'Segundo Volante' as it is known in South America, is a combination of a ball-winning midfielder and a box-to-box midfielder. A role that requires a lot of versatility.
The scrappy 1-0 defeat to Chelsea earlier this month required Guimaraes to run himself into the ground, attempting as many ball recoveries as possible before he was replaced after the hour-mark.
However, he showed a different side of his game by enjoying a lot more of the ball in last week's defeat to Everton, where he had 85 touches in total, providing 63 passes with a 97 per cent accuracy.
With Jonjo Shelvey's game being suited to finding killer passes and Joe Willock being thought of as an attacking midfielder, Guimaraes' desire to do the hard graft and ball carrying may be welcomed by Howe. The 24-year-old also showed he has an eye for goal with an instinctive finish against Southampton earlier this month.
Newcastle tried and failed to land Boubakary Soumare and Hamza Choudhury before this season started. But in Bruno they may have found the ideal 'second wheel'.
