Bruno Guimaraes set to join Newcastle for €36 million from Lyon - Magpies snap up their first marquee signing of PIF era

Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes will join Newcastle from Lyon on a €36 million deal. He will join Eddie Howe‘s side as their latest signing alongside Kieran Trippier and Chris Woods in their bid to avoid relegation. Arsenal and Juventus were chasing box-to-box progressive metronome, but the Magpies offered triple his current salary to bring him to Tyneside. He will be the first major signing of Newcastle’s Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund era. They will look to spend money to take the club back to prominence the same way Chelsea, Manchester City, and PSG went about their business.

The 24-year-old arrived from Athletico Paranaense in January 2020 as Juninho’s first marquee signing. He became a fan-favorite after an amazing debut performance against Juve in the UEFA Champions League. He strugled for game time due to covid and Rudi Garcia preferring the more defensively functional Thiago Mendes at the midfield base. However, in his first full season, he scored three goals and assisted one more for Les Gones. Rudi Garcia was dismissed and Peter Bosz came in and has given the number 39-wearing midfielder a more dynamic, box-to-box role (his best). Only two men have played more progressive passes than him. He is also in the 98th percentile for progressive carries. There is an argument that he is the most progressive football player in Europe’s top five leagues. He is a coup for Newcastle. He captained Brazil to Olympic Gold this summer alongside Dani Alves.

Before leaving Brazil for Europe, Guimaraes was a target for Atletico Madrid, who had a first option clause on him after signing teammate Renan Lodi. Chelsea also scouted him extensively but did not move for the player.

He will form a midfield 3 with Joelington and Jonjo Shelvey, with Sean Longstaff presumably taking the bench. Newcastle are 18th on the Premier League table with a game in hand over Dean Smith’s Norwich. The Canaries lead them with only a point, and that gap can be closed when they face fellow disappointments, Everton, two weeks from now.