For all that Newcastle United frustrated and angered Liverpool’s players, staff and fans on Wednesday night at Anfield, there will be a level of mutual respect between the sides away from the time-wasting antics....CONTINUE READING
At the top level, there is a lot of money washing around and Newcastle have only added to that. Their new ownership should be questioned, but on a purely footballing basis, the reality that the Magpies will become a superpower sooner rather than later is clear.
At a scouting and recruitment level, Newcastle have proven to be similarly as astute as Liverpool so far, and with former Brighton sporting director Dan Ashworth now at St James’ Park, that is likely to continue.
One such sensible transfer was made in January, when Newcastle’s spending power began to show itself for the first time since their takeover. Having spent around £200m or so in the last two transfer windows, there is unlikely to be better value for money found than in Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimarães.
Purchased from Lyon for a relatively modest fee in modern terms at the back end of January, £40m Guimarães does not turn 25 until November and is already showing plenty of promise.
Missing on Wednesday through injury, Newcastle’s central midfield area looked completely different without the South American, who has taken instantly to life in the Premier League.
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Liverpool, according to Sky Sports chief reporter Melissa Reddy, speaking to The Anfield Wrap, were interested in signing Guimarães but missed the boat on him. “If there was a blank canvas and Liverpool could sign anyone without any restrictions, it would be Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle — and someone at Manchester City said similar,” Reddy explained.
While they scrambled to hijack a deal for Luis Díaz in January, with Tottenham and West Ham among those taking a look at the Colombian, Newcastle confirmed that they had bought Guimarães the previous day. Perhaps two transfer hijacks in the space of two days was deemed a task too far.
FBref places Naby Keïta as Guimarães’ most stylistically similar player, while N’Golo Kanté and Mateo Kovačić are next. Jude Bellingham is statistically the eighth-most similar, just ahead, interestingly, of Konrad Laimer — another who has been linked with the Reds this week.
Keïta’s contract expires at the end of the season; Guimarães is almost identical in profile, but has only ever missed five games, according to Transfermarkt, through illness or injury.
Guimarães is in the 98th percentile for tackles and 91st for pressures among midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues. He ranks in the 90s for shot-creating actions and expected assists generated. He ranks in the 86th percentile for progressive passes and 92nd for progressive dribbles.
If you were to draw up the statistics for the perfect Jürgen Klopp midfielder, Guimarães would essentially be that man. The problem for Liverpool (and Real Madrid, who are also said to be keen, via the Chronicle) is that Newcastle have just spent £40m on the Brazilian — it will take a great deal more than that to prise him away.
Yet his statistics are so impressive that it might be worth it — even if the best chance of getting him for a steal of a price tag has already passed.
