Some people completely overplay the quality of a league in deciding how good a player is or not. Van Dijk came from the SPL for just one example. The idea that say you wouldn't buy De Jong or De Ligt because they had only played in the Dutch league would be bonkers, same if you were in for Ziyech or Van de Beek now, or Suarez 7 or 8 years ago. An abundance of good players have also done well in the Portuguese league.
Some people completely disregard the role the player played in, system, actual abilities as a player etc.
This season in the Portuguese league (using Whoscored as the basis for the stats):
Highest rating in the league. Don't know what to take from this given that their algorithm is "secret" and seems to give high ratings to offensive players. I would argue that their weighting of different elements of the game is wrong (
https://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/002/304/375/RUG01-002304375_2016_0001_AC.pdf) and favours offensive players with a high risk/reward style of play --> Pepe and Ben Arfa top 10 ratings in Ligue 1 last season. What WhoScored is useful for is raw data: Key passes, loss of possession, long balls etc.
Key Passes: 3.7 per game. (Set pieces included)
Long balls (over 25 yards): 3.9 successful, 3.9 unsuccessful
Short passing: 40 successful, 10 unsuccessful.
Dispossessed: 2.1 times per game. Unsuccessful touches 2.7 times per game. Combined they are higher than PP last season.
3.6 shots per game.
In general, he plays high-risk football. I think his attractive stats, like goals, assists and key passes per game are not going to translate into our league at all (similar to Pepe for Arsenal). He will get even less time on the ball and not the same opportunities or situations for pinpointing a cross or the final pass. People thinking that he will help our passing and build-up play will be disappointed. Our problems in trying to create against a balanced defence will not be fixed by adding a gung-ho player like him that will shot or try to make the killer pass as soon as he gets the ball in the final third. Patience, efficient passing and movement until good situations happens (What City does) is what is needed for this. And Bruno Fernandes is not the type of player to play this type of football.
He will be an asset on set pieces, should we sign him, but struggle in the general play against teams and players that will not give him time on the ball nor allow many situations where he will be able to play the final pass. And he is not good enough on the ball or physical enough to create these situations for himself either without risking to lose the ball.
For our current approach on how to attack (transition dependent, inpatient and coincidental), Bruno would fit right in. When OGS is replaced, hopefully by a manager and coaching team that prefers a more relevant type of football, his high-risk style of play may not be that useful anymore.
