A quiet but natural leader, a box-to-box player who could turn out as good as Kevin De Bruyne, and the fans’ choice to replace Fred in the Brazil midfield . . .
The word from South America is that Newcastle are getting even more than they have bargained for in Bruno Guimaraes.
And while reaction in his homeland to Bruno’s move to Tyneside is one of shock – his dream transfer, after all, was to Manchester City – we can reveal the possible role of a forgotten former Newcastle player in selling him the United project.
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ChronicleLive has spoken to prominent Brazilian sports journalist Marcus Alves, who works for BBC Sport among others, to get the inside track on Newcastle’s marquee January signing.
And his insight suggests United have landed an even better player than they might expect.
Q: Are Brazilians surprised that Guimarães has come to Newcastle?
A: Yeah, definitely. When Brazilians think of the Premier League, Newcastle is not a team that comes to mind, but the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. And that's where many thought Bruno would be heading sooner or later.
Bruno himself, it must be said, dreamed of playing for City. He can still get there, of course, but he will first have to help Newcastle in their fight for survival.
And it's not like he will get to St James' Park with no clue about what he's going to meet there - it's important to bear in mind that he worked for some time with former Magpies centre-back Claudio Caçapa, now an assistant coach at Lyon.
Q: How influential was Guimaraes when winning the Olympics, Copa Sudamericana and Copa do Brazil with club or country?
A: He was a key player for both sides. He can tackle, but he's usually more comfortable with the ball on his foot. He's the guy that dictates the tempo of the game, so every ball passes through him.
At the Olympics, specifically, he did such a good job playing alongside Aston Villa's Douglas Luiz that many in Brazil appeared more excited about the U23 midfield pair than watching Real Madrid's Casemiro and Manchester United's Fred for the senior team.
Q: He has captained Brazil U23’s, Does he look like a natural leader?
A: He's not the Roy Keane kind of leader - you probably won't see him yelling at a team-mate, fighting the referee or something like that. But he is a positive leader, the kind of player who will not hide from the game and take responsibility to drive the dream forward.
So, in that sense, yeah, you may see he's a natural leader. He speaks very well and managed to learn French within just few months in Lyon, so it's safe to say that communicating in English won't be a problem, too.
Q: What is his best position?
A: In Brazil, he's what we usually call a "segundo volante" - a No. 8; a deep-lying midfielder; the player who will collect the ball from centre-back and carry the ball forward.
Q: Who would he be compared to, if anyone, in the Premier League?
A: He's been compared by Brazil manager Tite to Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne. He's good, but not this good ... yet!
Q: What was his personal background growing up in Brazil?
A: As far as I know, he had a normal childhood in Rio de Janeiro and doesn't have one of those stories of Brazilian players who grew up in favelas and didn't have any choice, but to become a footballer in search of a better life.
He remains very humble, though, and the fact that he has always chosen to wear the number of the taxi his father used to drive just illustrates that.
Q: How do Brazilians see him progressing with regards to the national team?
A: He can become a mainstay in the future. Brazil is yet to find a player who can play the No 8 role as well as Paulinho did during the campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
So many players have already been tested in that position, and now Fred seems to be Tite's preferred choice.
But Bruno's main goal now is to secure a place in the squad that will travel to Qatar and that obviously depends on how he does at Newcastle.
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