Fans flag up love for Bruno – and urge him to stay
UNITED STAR GETS THE MESSAGE AT SJP
NEWCASTLE United star Bruno Guimaraes was on the end of an emotional message from supporters to resist any temptation to join Manchester City or Paris St-Germain this summer.
Fans held up flags reading “Bruno don’t leave” and “please stay a Magpie” ahead of the 5-1 win over Sheffield United. A bigger banner display also read: “From Alianca and Rio to Newcastle upon Tyne, a home away from home, Joelinton and Bruno, our Brazilian Geordies.”
As Bruno left the stadium on Sat
urday night to embrace his family, more fan chants urging him to stay at Newcastle cascaded down from the Milburn Stand from remaining fans who were enjoying some postgame hospitality.
And Bruno does not need to be told how much he is wanted at St
James’ Park ahead of a month of undoubted speculation on his next step.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe will be eager to simply steer him to the end of June by which time his release clause will have expired and United can demand what they want for his signature, should the reported bids from Man City or PSG actually materialise.
Howe said over the weekend: “He (Bruno) is very much part of my plans! We have to showcase what we can offer him as a club. And hope that is enough to keep him. Hopefully he stays with us for many years.”
Bruno himself also hinted at a positive conclusion to the summer window in terms of staying on. “The
fans have given me so much,” he said on NUFC TV. “I’ve never felt so loved.”
If anybody does doubt Bruno’s intentions, with talk of a summer exit swirling around on the agent circuit, the man himself assured Newcastle fans only last autumn. After
signing a deal to take him to 2028, he said then: “I’m so happy here. It’s a place that is so comfortable to be and I hope to keep making the supporters happy and helping the team do well. That’s my goal, because there are no words to describe how happy I am to be here.”
Reading between the lines from recent interviews with Guimaraes (right), there is a feeling that the 26-year-old seemed to set a minimum requirement of qualifying for
Europe.
Should Newcastle do that, as they find themselves on the brink of qualifying for the Europa Conference League, the month of June should fly by and the narrative, with Howe vowing to build a team “around” Bruno, will change again.
Bruno, meanwhile, has revealed that he would sign ‘best friend’
Lucas Paqueta if he could bring any player to Newcastle United.
The pair are international team-mates and also shared a dressing room during their time together at Lyon before they both moved to the Premier League in 2022. Paqueta was heavily linked with a switch to Newcastle, having even visited Bruno and his family on Tyneside, but those figures involved in the midfielder’s move to West Ham revealed the Hammers were the only club to ‘put hard cash down.’
Howe said last year that a deal was ‘never close’ despite intense speculation, and it is worth noting that Newcastle had more pressing priorities elsewhere in a summer when the Magpies signed Alexander Isak, Sven Botman and Nick Pope. However, the Newcastle boss did admit that Paqueta was ‘an outstanding talent,’ who the black-and-whites ‘admire greatly,’ after the Brazilian gave West Ham ‘something totally different in the middle of the pitch.’
West Ham broke their transfer record to sign Paqueta for a fee that could rise to up to £51.3m. If Bruno had his way, though, the 26-year-old would take his countryman to St James’ Park as he made clear in a question and answer session with Fubo.
“I would say Lucas Paqueta,” he responded when asked who he would sign if he could recruit any player in the world. “He’s my best friend.”
Bruno is not the only Newcastle player to put Paqueta’s name forward. Joelinton also opted for Paqueta and fellow Brazil international Vinicius Junior when previously asked the same question.