Potentially as good as De Bruyne - South American view on Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes

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.

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.

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.

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