Ex-Brazil star lashes out at former manager’s treatment of Newcastle United star

He has certainly made an impact since joining the Magpies earlier this year.
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Lyon legend Juninho Pernambucano has hit out at a former manager’s treatment of Newcastle United star Bruno Guimaraes.

The Brazil international left the Ligue 1 club to join the Magpies in a £38million deal during the January transfer window and quickly settled to life in the Premier League.

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United manager Eddie Howe resisted the temptation to plunge the midfielder into the action and limited Guimaraes to cameo roles during the opening weeks of his time on Tyneside.

This approach paid off when he marked his full debut with a spectacular goal in a win at Southampton that kicked off a remarkable run of goalscoring form.

Never the most prolific midfielder, Guimaraes went on to net five goals in 17 appearances as he played a lead role in helping the Magpies burst away from the Premier League relegation zone and secure a mid-table finish.

Juninho - who once held the role of director of football at Lyon - believes the Ligue 1 club’s former manager Rudi Garcia almost hampered Bruno’s development prior to his big move to England.

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He told French outlet RMC Sport: “There are Premier League games which are very difficult to watch. It’s just tackles, intensity, not intelligence.

“I give the example of Bruno Guimarães. Rudi Garcia (former Lyon coach) killed the little one. He manages in five months to be one of the best players on his team (at Newcastle) thanks to his intelligence.

“I think there is value in Ligue 1 but there are still things to change. All the players who come out of Ligue 1 manage to perform elsewhere, even in the Premier League.”

Guimaraes is currently on international duty with Brazil but an injury prevented the midfielder appearing in Friday night’s friendly against Ghana.

News is awaited over his availability for Tuesday’s meeting with Tunisia - but United will hope he will return to full fitness in time to feature at Fulham on Saturday.