Newcastle United star Bruno Guimaraes has been hailed as one of the Premier League ’s best midfielders by Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher.
Guimaraes joined Newcastle in a deal worth £40million from Lyon in January after the club fought off competition from rivals, including Arsenal. The Brazilian international has fitted well into Eddie Howe’s side and has already made a huge difference to the team, contributing seven goals and two assists in 24 appearances across all competitions from central midfield.
The 24-year-old scored twice in Newcastle’s 5-1 thrashing of Brentford on the weekend and was picked out by Carragher for praise on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme. Carragher highlighted that Guimaraes had the most tackles, ball carries, chances created and through balls of any central midfielder in the Premier League per 90 minutes this season.
“What we find out with midfield players is we put them in positions in terms of numbers and call them a No6, an No8, or a No10,” he said. “He feels like the type of player who could play all of those roles. In terms of playing this season, he has played as more of the deeper midfield players. When comparing him to midfield players from the teams in the top six, is that he is a throwback to when Roy was playing, in that he is a midfield player, he is not a sitting or attacking midfielder. Bruno Guimares is different to those midfielders.”
He added: “When you look at his stats going forward in terms of his carrying, creativity and through balls, this shows he is a complete midfield player. This is why this midfield player is getting such excitement not just from Tyneside, but from all over.”
Guimaraes was strongly linked with a move to Arsenal in January, with the Gunners looking for a creative midfielder. He revealed in May that he joined Newcastle because it was his only “concrete offer” from a Premier League club with Champions League ambitions – and it appears to have been a good decision, considering his form.
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“He is obviously playing with a lot of confidence,” Keane added. “Newcastle [are] having a good couple of weeks and producing some big wins and scoring lots of goals. He is doing what he is supposed to be doing in terms of being a midfielder, but those stats back them up.
“It is only early in the season and we want to see that over the next few months, but he is a good character, the fans have taken to him, he has added goals to his game and he looks like he knows what the game is about, he has a lot of football intelligence.”
Newcastle have lost just once in the Premier League this season and are now up to sixth place following the thrashing of Brentford. Howe’s side will face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday for the chance to leapfrog Erik ten Hag’s team in the table.
