After days of refusing to count chickens - a lesson learned from the Unai Emery saga - fans can finally relax because it is official: Bruno Guimarães is a Newcastle player.
The club announced on Sunday afternoon that the 24-year-old has joined from Lyon on a four-and-a-half-year deal. He will wear the number 39, the number of the taxi his dad once drove.
It is a staggering signing for Newcastle United : a Brazil international who was coveted by Champions League sides and has proven himself in one of Europe’s top divisions.
As the Express wrote in 2019 when Chelsea scouted him: “Guimarães is being touted as one of the hottest playmaking prospects in football and has been linked with the likes of Inter Milan and Napoli as well.”
All of which is incredible news for the club, but it also means we must talk about Bruno, because an uncomfortable decision is needed: who do you drop?
Bruno is a box-to-box midfielder, a skilled passer, and a dynamic player who should transform the middle of the pitch for Newcastle. So if Eddie Howe plays him in a 4-4-2, who joins him in the middle? Joelinton? Jonjo Shelvey?
From footage it is clear that Bruno shifts the ball up the pitch at pace. Does Howe want any kind of a brake on that? Does he want a player alongside Bruno whose best asset is passing? Or does he want someone who is full of running?
Read more: Newcastle complete deal for Bruno Guimarães, as Eddie Howe tells of delight
Then there are the wings, if Howe does play a 4-4-2. Would Ryan Fraser be on the right? With Allan Saint-Maximin on the left? Who goes up front then? Chris Wood, who is struggling to score this season, until Callum Wilson is back. But with Saint-Maximin alongside him? Which is a reminder that Newcastle still have a big problem: strikers.
The lack of strikers in the squad might suggest playing a different formation, perhaps with three across the centre and two wingers playing forward, with Wood alone in the middle up front. That would probably mean Fraser and Saint-Maximin on the wings at the moment.
In that situation, the likely names for a central three would be Bruno, Joelinton and Shelvey, with Joe Willock pushing for a place if he can get himself back on track, and Isaac Hayden in with a shout when he’s fit. What about Sean Longstaff? Miguel Amiron? The tide is rising and they need to learn to swim fast.
The fact is that the calibre of players at Newcastle is already shifting upwards rapidly, particularly with the arrival of Kieran Trippier and Bruno. Just as occurred in the 1990s, some players who are loved by fans and work they socks off will simply not be good enough. They will drift to the fringes. Some will be let go. It is brutal, but necessary.
Howe seems to have a clear eye for which players in the current squad are up to snuff, and it seems there will be no sentimentality about it - his reputation and future depends on it. Back in the 1990s, Kevin Keegan had the same experience - treat people well, but buy better and help the surpassed find another home.
