Bruno Guimarães’ Lyon career was an undulating affair. Few have made the impact the Brazilian did in early 2020 having signed that January from Paranaense for €20m. His first five performances were full of swagger, vision and verve as Juventus were beaten in the Champions League last 16 first leg tie and Saint-Étienne were overcome in a ferocious derby. Bruno even stood out in a 5-1 loss to PSG, but that explosive start was abruptly halted by the initial outbreak of COVID-19 and Ligue 1’s ensuing suspension. Despite the hype around the 24-year-old of late, it’s taken until now to discover that form but uncertainty remains.
Guimarães had to wait five months for a sixth Lyon game. During the previous five, the Brazilian was ably supported by holding midfielder Lucas Tousart, who had since left for Hertha Berlin, meaning, with the emergence of Maxence Caqueret, Bruno was now forced into a deeper midfield role. Although far from an unusual position for Guimarães, the reduced positional freedom and added responsibility to destroy as well as create dampened his effect on games considerably moving into the 2020/21 campaign. Hauled off early in three of his first four games alongside Caqueret, Guimarães posted uninspiring performances against PSG in the Coupe de France final and in the Champions League semi-final loss to Bayern Munich.
In contrast to his recent resurgence across his OL career since, which totalled 71 games in all competitions according to Flashscore.com, last season was still a disappointing one for Guimarães, despite some outstanding Lyon form generally in the middle of the campaign as Rudi Garcia’s side threatened a title challenge. Guimarães flitted in and out of the team throughout the year, with Caqueret, the more defensively minded Thiago Mendes and even Lucas Paquetá often preferred in midfield, as he regularly offered meek and ineffectual displays far removed from the positivity and intensity seen immediately after his arrival.
This season, however, the more gung-ho Peter Bosz’s appointment as coach has played to Guimarães’ strengths with Caqueret now deployed as the sitting midfielder and the Brazilian given more creative licence to support attacks. This has allowed Bruno to collaborate particularly well with his compatriot Paquetá, even if Bosz’s wider plans are yet to truly coalesce. Guimarães has appeared far bolder and aggressive in his play and his body language under Bosz, an attitude summed up by an exacting assist for Paquetá to take the lead against PSG last month – his season’s highlight so far. A snap exchange of passes allowed Bruno to cleverly chop past Ander Herrera before aiming a guided missile of a pass into the path of a marauding Paquetá who arrowed home a low shot to round off a lightning counter.
Underlining this new front-foot mentality, by the time of his transfer to England Guimarães had more passes into the final third (150) and more progressive passes (144) than anyone in Ligue 1, according to FBRef. Only Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold boasted the more through balls across Europe’s top five leagues while, illustrating an ability to still contribute as a two-way player in a more advanced role, no one has won more than his 44 tackles in France this season. Despite only making three league assists as a deep-lying playmaker, the Brazilian still leads OL for expected assists this season and has completed by far the most passes for the side, 300 hundred more than second-placed Caqueret.
Despite his obvious importance to Lyon of late, however, the French side are still getting a far better deal here than his new employers, Newcastle. OL sought to refuse Newcastle’s initial offer last month, not wanting to deprive Bosz of his best player in recent games – which isn’t as big an accolade as it sounds – for a tight Ligue 1 run-in. Les Gones, however, quickly changed tact after the player intimated he wanted to make the most of what might be a once in a career opportunity, with Newcastle offering to quadruple his salary overnight. Lyon president Jean Michel Aulas will be pleased with the outcome.
If Newcastle manage to survive this season in the Premier League, Guimarães will likely bring Lyon €50m, with €42m already paid upfront. It’s unlikely a club outside of the Premier League would have even considered offering such a fee, and Newcastle have still slightly overpaid with the usual Premier League premium being inflated by the Magpies’ desperate situation and recent high profile takeover.
Partly thanks to that fee, regardless of Guimarães’ improved recent form, Lyon were able to swiftly replace Guimarães in the short term with Tanguy Ndombele – an upgrade based on Ndombele’s OL performances before leaving for Tottenham – while providing time and resources to identify a long term replacement ahead of the summer window. Wider financial concerns will have also been eased while also facilitating the signing of Romain Faivre from Brest for €15m on deadline day, a player who could well be worth three times that in 18 months time. Despite Faivre being a very different type of player to Guimarães and possible overlaps with Houssem Aouar and Paqeuta, Lyon enter February with an improved squad overall, large thanks to Guimarães’ sale.
Even so, based on Guimarães’ season so far, assuming he’s given a midfield anchor to serge beyond, Newcastle will be improved considerably by his arrival. However, whether the 24-year-old can be relied upon to add the required rigour and calmness to Eddie Howe’s midfield and drag the team to safety in a league he has no experience of, having never fought against the drop before, is open to debate. Guimarães will likely need support from midfield partners and patience from both fans and Howe to be a success. Whether Newcastle can provide that environment is equally unsure. His signing remains a gamble.
Adam White