Premier League newcomer Bruno Guimaraes has spoken about his first three months in the league with Newcastle United.
The 24-year-old Brazil international joined Newcastle from Olympique Lyonnais in Ligue 1 after the French club initially denied the reports. After a brief adaptation, the Brazilian is now one of the first names on Eddie Howe’s team sheet.
He’s been pivotal in their rise to mid-table positions since the turn of the year, after an embarrassing start to the season under Steve Bruce. Newcastle are now in 10th place after a fantastic 2022 as they outperformed all the clubs in Europe’s top five leagues.
Guimaraes played 14 games for the Magpies in that period, scoring four and making one. He quickly became a fan favorite but admitted that the adjustment was very difficult.
Speaking to ESPN Brasil about his adaptation to life in the English Premier League and Howe’s impact on his adaptation, the former Flamengo man said: “It was a tough adaptation, completely different. It is the toughest league in the world without a doubt.
“The first two weeks were very difficult, but I trusted the coach. He talked to me a lot, he said he wanted me to understand how the Premier League works, he wanted me to start some games on the bench.
“It was good for my conditioning, even at first without me understanding much, because when you arrive, you really want to play anyway. And it was no different for me. He told me I was going to play, he told me to calm down, and he told me to talk to everyone “.
Don Hutchison, a former Sunderland player, also praised Howe for the way he has incorporated new signings into the side and made the team shoot all cylinders again.
Howe got the job when Newcastle were five points from the safety zone, but his role didn’t live up to much expectations as the club singled him out to be the manager if they ended up relegated. The club believes Howe can pull off a promotion next season after working at Bournemouth, where he was let go a few seasons ago.
Now, the Magpies have won 10 of their last 15 matches, 14 of which Guimaraes played and gave an excellent performance.
Hutchison, a boyhood Newcastle fan, paid tribute to Bhu while he was on critical duty with Premier League Productions. He said, “I put on social media a couple of weeks ago (saying) that the job Eddie Howe has done is great and I’ve been so shocked.”
“(People said) ‘Yeah, but he spent £100m’ What do you expect? He’s made his way out of trouble! Try telling that to Newcastle fans watching Joe Willock, (Jacob) Murphy, Jonjo Shelvey, Joelinton and Ryan Fraser – who have all improved under the leadership of Eddie Howe.
“Kieran Trippier got hurt a month ago. (Bruno) Guimaraes didn’t start with five or six matches when they bought him. Well they spent a little bit of money but their performance and personality and how great they are all of a sudden… the feel-good factor is back.”
