The £15m late-blooming bargain set to become West Ham's first summer signing

West Ham United are on the verge of confirming their first signing of the summer – Brazilian international defender Fabrício Bruno, who is set to arrive from Flamengo in a deal worth up to £15m, according to the Guardian. The 28-year-old centre-half will become the first new arrival of Julen Lopetegui’s reign, but what will he bring to the London Stadium and how does he stack up compared to the current options at the back?

It’s no surprise to see West Ham bolstering the back line first. Central defence was a weak spot under David Moyes, and with Nayef Agüerd agitating for a move and Angelo Ogbonna expected to leave on a free transfer, it only seemed likely to grow weaker without fresh blood. In Bruno, they’ve signed a rugged campaigner who made his debut for the national side at Wembley this spring (keeping Ollie Watkins quiet in the process), and a player who offers some high-quality distribution alongside the more traditional defensive attributes.

Bruno is something of a late bloomer, which explains why he has never left his home country before. A solid but relatively understated career saw him spend time at Cruzeiro, Chapecoense and Red Bull Bragantino before moving to Flamengo, but it’s only over the past few years that his stock has risen significantly – now he is a fully-fledged international, albeit one that didn’t make the final squad for the Copa América this summer.

Although he’s strong, powerful and physically imposing – with his mohawk and beard, he has a hint of the MMA fighter about his appearance – he’s more of a technician that may be unkindly assumed at first glance, and is a fine passer of the ball who excels with the kind of direct vertical balls that help to break through a high press quickly and dangerously.

As you can see from the statistics table below, Fabrício Bruno would immediately become the best distributor of the ball in West Ham’s central defence, and one of their best tacklers as well – he’s excellent in close-marking situations and judges tackles well, hence his impressive success rate. Only Kostantinos Mavropanos had a better campaign based on the raw numbers (Fabrício Bruno’s statistics are taken from the 2023 Brazilian season) and the Greek’s record may be inflated slightly by a lower number of appearances.

Despite being a strong passer with an impressive range, he shouldn’t misconstrued as a ball-playing defender in the way we normally understand the phrase. He very rarely attempts to carry the ball out of defence or play his way out of trouble with the ball at his feet, and his technique, while perfectly sound, is comparatively limited. He’s essentially a relatively old-school defender who happens to be able to pick a pass out, and won’t be seen trying to beat a man in a tight corner very often.

And while he’s excellent in those tight corners, he is less effective in more chaotic and stretched games. He isn’t the kind of defender who reads the game in a way which allows him to improvise positionally, and he rarely steps out of his set position to cut balls out or to fight fires – hence his low numbers for interceptions. He ploughs a straightforward defensive furrow and rarely deviates far from it. He does, however, have a decent turn of pace which helps him to recover when the ball does get in behind him.

But while he’s hardly the kind of defender who is likely to radically modernise West Ham’s defence in the post-Moyes era, he is rock solid, plays his role well and offers a strong base with which to build from the back. At a fee which starts at just £12.5m, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a good deal should it get over the line, and West Ham have done well to secure his signature – Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest were rumoured to be interested too.

The only major question mark is how he will handle a late step upwards in his career. As impressive as his raw numbers are, it is worth remembering that he has racked them up in Série A – a solid level of play by any means, but below that of the Premier League – and there’s always a chance that he can’t cut the mustard at the next level. But if his showing against England back in March, when he kept the hosts’ left flank on lockdown, was anything to go by, he should get along just fine.