Newcastle United: Julien Laurens makes worrying Bruno Guimaraes claim

Journalist Julien Laurens has hinted that Newcastle United ace Bruno Guimaraes may not be on Tyneside beyond the end of the upcoming season. 

Newcastle brought the Brazilian to the football club back in January in a £40m move from Lyon and he signed a contract until 2026, but Laurens is of the impression that a greater option may arise.

The Olympic gold medallist scored five goals in 17 games for the Toon last season and posted a 7.25 SofaScore match rating for the season, ranking second among his teammates.

Perhaps his average benefited from the fact that he made fewer appearances, but there is no denying from the eye test alone that the 24-year-old is on an upward trajectory, and Laurens has claimed on the Totally Football Show that he could be gone sooner rather than later.

He said: “I expect Bruno Guimaraes to be even better next season – which could potentially be his last season there, because there will be a point where he [is] going to be far too good for Newcastle anyway.”

TIF Thoughts on Bruno and Newcastle…

Arsenal, PSG and Manchester United were all reportedly interested in the 8-cap Brazil ace, and perhaps he is destined for greater things.

The underlying numbers that the centre-midfielder has been racking up over the past year reinforce how good he has been, while he is statistically similar to Joshua Kimmich and N’Golo Kante based on his style of play (as per FBRef).

He ranks in the 98th percentile among his positional peers for tackles per 90 minutes while also coming in the top 5% of midfielders for expected assists per 90 (FBRef), highlighting his work on both sides of the ball.

Eddie Howe’s long-term aim will be to get Newcastle into Europe, but whether he can do that in time for the ace labelled a ‘superstar‘ by Newcastle journalist Mark Douglas to stick around or not remains to be seen.