The last few years have been a real roller coaster for the Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, who has gone from a completely unknown to one of the most exciting talents on the planet in no time.
After radiating in his homeland, Guimaraes sealed an expensive move to Lyon 2020, and his share has only risen since then. Links to Real Madrid and Barcelona have followed, and now Arsenal are monitoring him as part of their search for a new midfielder.
If you do not already know him, here is a quick cheat sheet for you.
Guimaraes was late-flowering and did not advance to the international radar until he was 21, when teams from all over Europe began frantically chasing his signature.
His previous side, Athletico Paranaense, started to get demand after request, and two of the most interested sides were Arsenal and Chelsea.
Both made their moves for the Brazilian, as did Benfica, but it was Lyon who eventually convinced him that they could help his development best.
Although he rejected the chance to go to the Premier League, Guimaraes has made no secret of the fact that he wanted to test himself in England one day.
“I have always told my agents that I dream of playing in England, it is the best league in the world, all matches are close,” he told Fox Sports 2020 (via GFFN). “Even when the team first plays against the team last time, it looks like a final.”
You get the feeling that an English team may not have to work too hard to convince him to join.
In an instant, Guimaraes went from an unknown child to the next big jump in Brazil, and all the hype was completely justified.
A big fish in a small pond with Audax, Guimaraes chose Brazil’s best sides in 2017 and eventually chose Athletico, as he led the Copa Sudamericana and Copa do Brasil titles in just two years at the club.
Out of nowhere, Guimaraes was suddenly one of the best players in Brazil, and the speed of that growth has made fans talk ever since.
If a club wants to sign Guimaraes, it’s better to make sure they have jersey number 39 available to him.
The midfielder is married to number 39, which was the taxi his father used to drive for over two decades in Rio de Janeiro. That he wore it actually started as a coincidence when Athletico gave him the number earlier in his career, and he immediately fell in love.
It is so important to Guimaraes that he appealed to Lyon to give him the number even though Ligue 1 squad numbers usually do not exceed 30. They had to get special permission from the league to fulfill his wish.
⏪ Back to a #UCL debut to remember for Bruno Guimarães!
?? @ brunoog97 ?? @OL_English pic.twitter.com/fHlwXqKxrK
– UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) 18 June 2020
Guimaraes is an incredibly tricky midfielder to describe. On paper, he is a defensive midfielder, but he plays more like an advanced playmaker.
He has the task of defending aggressively and regaining possession, but his greatest strength is his ability to turn defense into attack through both his passing and his dribbling.
The Brazilian is more of a box-to-box midfielder, but with the responsibility of an anchor at the heart of the pitch. In 2020/21, he ranked in the 98th percentile for tackles in Europe’s best leagues, as well as the 96th in progressive draws.
Voa, bruxo! ? ♂️? ️ Thank you very much, Bruno Guimarães! @ brunoog97 pic.twitter.com/vTlog2N63O
– Athletico Paranaense (@AthleticoPR) January 30, 2020
Despite being his team’s deepest midfielder on the team sheet, Guimaraes rarely stops at the base of the midfield and instead goes in search of the ball in advanced areas.
He takes his box-to-box role with pride and will push his opponents aggressively when he drops the ball. Guimaraes will start at one box and continue to push all the way to the other until he gets the ball back.
It may seem a little ruthless at times, but Guimaraes always seems to be able to calculate the right moments to press and the right moments to lean back.
Gundogan is one of Guimarae’s inspirations / Marc Atkins / Getty Images
If there’s one player in the world you can compare Guimaraes to, it’s Ilkay Gundogan, and it turns out it’s not a coincidence.
“He was very fond of Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, who had a player named Gundogan,” his mother told Gazeta do Povo. “Barcelona [Andres] Iniesta too. “
Guimaraes himself admitted his admiration for Gundogan later and admitted (via Ligue 1): “I’m a fan of players like Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane, I used to like watching them play. At the moment I like Ilkay Gundogan in Manchester City, but since I was little I have been inspired by Andres Iniesta. ”
Some have compared Guimaraes to De Bruyne / Marcio Machado / Getty Images
If you want to know how difficult Guimara’s style of play is to describe, just look at the fact that scouts have compared him to both Liverpool’s Fabinho and City’s Kevin De Bruyne.
It’s worth noting that he’s not a De Bruyne-like creator, but those comparisons stem from the fact that he can ping a long ball across the pitch as well as anyone.
He can anchor a midfield like Fabinho and then spray the ball around like De Bruyne. It’s about as complete a style of play as you’ll probably find.
? What a goal! Bruno Guimarães secured @atleticopr’s place in the final of the #CONMEBOLSudamericana when he finished this wonderful team move.pic.twitter.com/PQlhipK0mY
– CONMEBOL Sudamericana (@TheSudamericana) November 29, 2018
If there is one potential weakness in Guimarae’s play, it is that he does not score enough goals for a player given his type of freedom.
His first 18 months in Lyon yielded just three goals, and he has never done more than that in a single season. If you want a goalie midfielder, he’s not your man.
However, Guimaraes does not advertise itself as a goal scorer and is more focused on breaking lines and advancing possession. If he ends up in a goal position and can find the back of the net himself, it’s just an extra bonus.
Lyon were, of course, ecstatic to sign Guimaraes, and after a few months of seeing his fantastic performances, the whole city went wild.
The local newspaper Le Progres only needed two months to claim that a wave of “Guimaraes mania” had swept the city, with fans quickly falling in love with the influential Brazilian.
The tension around him was so great that there was a real disappointment when the 2020/21 Ligue 1 season was closed due to COVID-19, which means that there would be no more chances to see Guimarae’s ball out for a few good months.
