Wolverhampton Wanderers are on the hunt for a defender to accompany Conor Coady, Willy Boly, Max Kilman and Romain Saiss next season, and A Bola say Bruno Viana is the latest name on their radar.
The 25-year-old is a centre-back who plays for SC Braga. He’s made 48 appearances this season and has an £18m asking price, but little else is known about Viana. So, who is he?
Viana began his career at Cruzeiro. He progressed from the youth ranks to the first-team and went on to make 13 appearances before Olympiacos came knocking.
The Brazilian joined the Greek outfit for £1.8m in 2016 and made 23 appearances in two years. He was loaned out to Braga (July 7, 2017 – June 30, 2018) midway through his stint at the Estádio Municipal de Braga and played 35 times – doing enough to turn the move permanent for £2.7m the following summer.
Viana has gone on to make 127 appearances in all competitions for Braga, scoring six goals with four assists. As per WhoScored, Viana has made 28 appearances in the Liga NOS this season and amassed 2455 minutes of playing time.
He’s created four chances, completed 88.3% of his 1823 passes, won 52/101 aerial duels, had nine shots, blocked 20 crosses/passes/shots, made 61 clearances and made a tackle (24) or interception (40) every 38 minutes.
Viana has won more headers than Conor Coady (31) and Jonny (35) and boasts more interceptions than Leander Dendoncker (36) and Matt Doherty (40). He’s composed in possession and aggressive at turning over possession, but he may need to work on his decision-making. All too often he gives away fouls and sells himself short diving in.
Viana could be a half-decent addition to the Wolves squad, but the Midlands outfit have a lot of centre-backs on their radar – Kristoffer Ajer, Gabriel Magalhaes, Christian Luyindama, Ousseynou Ba, Tosin Adarabioyo, Ruben Dias, Diego Llorente, Nicolas N’Koulou, Robin Koch.
