It’s certainly not been a particularly positive debut season in English football for Vini Souza, his Sheffield United side doomed to relegation with only 16 Premier League points on the board.
But, still, the Brazilian does not appear to be a man who’s energy has been sapped by such an experience. Souza, the former Espanyol enforcer, continues to relish – rather than dread – the prospect of coming up against some of the finest midfielders in the game week-in, week-out.
And that includes a couple of compatriots playing the best football of their careers, Souza going head-to-head with his fellow Brazilians Douglas Luiz and Bruno Guimaraes.
The former, in particular, has come on leaps and bounds since Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard in the Aston Villa dugout, Luiz going from a solid if unspectacular player into one of the most complete ‘number eights‘ in the game.
No midfielder in the whole of England’s top flight has more than Luiz’s nine goals in 2023/24.
Aston Villa and Newcastle United stars hailed
“Wow, Douglas Luiz is an amazing player,” Souza tells the Premier League’s official YouTube channel. “Tackling, the way he (controls) the ball… he’s really good.
“I (watched him) always when he was young in Brazil. Now, he plays for the best teams in the Premier League.”
Champions League qualification is Aston Villa’s to lose these days, Emery’s side beating title challengers Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates just one day after top-four rivals Tottenham Hotspur were thrashed at Newcastle United.
And, speaking of Newcastle, The Magpies have a brilliant Brazilian of their own acting as the driving force behind a European charge, Eddie Howe’s side overtaking Manchester United in sixth after Bruno Guimaraes pulled the strings throughout that 4-0 hammering of Ange Postecoglou’s men.
“Bruno Guimaraes is an amazing player, you know,” adds Souza, who cost Sheffield United £10 million last summer. “He came to France and played so good in his first year, then he came to Newcastle and he plays so good again! He’s such a good guy and he’s an unbelievable player.”
Bruno Guimaraes is a Real Madrid and PSG target
Guimaraes took his tally to eight assists for 2023/24 with a typically inch-perfect through ball to set up the rampaging Alexander Isak on Sunday. HITC understands that Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain – who suffered a 4-1 bashing by Newcastle in the Champions League group-stages – scouted Guimaraes during Newcastle’s FA Cup defeat at the hands of Manchester City recently.
Guimaraes will take some shifting, however. Few players have fallen quite as madly in love with their surroundings as the former Lyon star has on Tyneside.
“I heard the roar from the fans and it was goosebumps,” Guimaraes told the Players’ Tribune after scoring a brace against Leicester back in 2023. “I ripped my shirt off, and that’s when I knew that I was really in the Premier League.
“It was an atmosphere I’d never seen before, even in Brazil. I remember I collapsed on the pitch at the whistle and I was just praying to God, thanking him for bringing me here.”