Uruguay international Santiago Bueno has been the latest new addition to Gary O’Neil’s squad and wolves.co.uk provides a deeper insight into the central defender now on the Old Gold’s books.
Profile
- Name: Santiago Ignacio Bueno Sciutto
- Date of birth: 9th November 1998
- Position: Central defender
- Nationality: Uruguay
- Previous clubs: Penarol, Barcelona, Peralada & Girona
- Appearances: 162
- Goals: 7
- Assists: 5
Background
A South American learning the game from the age of ten in his home nation of Uruguay with Penarol, Santiago Bueno was playing first-team football from a young age, making his unofficial debut against Libertad, the club where Enso Gonzalez began his career. His break in European football arrived early however, with Barcelona being alerted and signing the defender in January 2017, one year before fellow Uruguayan Ronald Araujo made the move to Camp Nou, where he also won the U20 South American Championship with Uruguay that month .
Still raw, the defender then headed out on loan to Peralada in the third tier of the Spanish game, making his senior debut there. Across two loan spells, in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 campaigns, Bueno developed during his 41 games for the club, scoring his first senior goal against Atletico Saguntino in March 2018.
However, rather than returning to Barcelona and stalling his development fully, Bueno aimed for first-team football elsewhere, and in August 2019 turned down more lucrative offers in search of regular games with Girona in the Spanish second tier. Those opportunities began during the 2020/21 season – the first of two second division campaigns where he played regularly, with the first resulting in play-off defeat to Rayo Vallecano, before he and Girona made up for it with promotion via the same method in 2022. Last year was Bueno’s best yet, as he played regularly in La Liga, helping his side to a top half finish, a clean sheet against former club Barcelona and victory over Real Madrid, paving the way for a move to the Premier League.
Playing style
At six foot four inches, Bueno boasts a good height, which helps him defend like you’d expect from someone with his frame – an all-round solid defender. However, the 24-year-old also possesses modern qualities on the possession side of the game, bringing ability on the ball to the defence, which taps back to his Barcelona past. In Bueno and Ronald Araujo, Barcelona moved for a pair of Uruguay central defenders in recent years, and although it’s Araujo who remained at Camp Nou, Bueno has benefitted from his spell there too.
His performances attracted the interest of former Leeds United boss and now Uruguay national team chief Marcelo Bielsa, who sat down with the defender to dissect his performances and integrate him on the national team scene, like he did with Darwin Nunez previously. Both have benefitted from Bielsa’s intense, thorough work, and Wolves are signing a more all-round defender.
Attitude
A theme of Wolves’ recruitment during Matt Hobbs’ time as sporting director has been an emphasis on character, and like Enso Gonzalez, Bueno ticks the box. Bueno’s time at Barcelona benefitted him, but arguably moving away for regular football did more. It shows a desire to leave the comfort zone of Camp Nou for the good of his career, and the reward was three years of regular football at Girona. He had the belief in himself to drop to the second tier of Spanish football to give himself the best opportunity of kicking on.
It’s that personality and grit which will give Wolves the belief that he can be successful at Molineux, and push his peers for a starting place, raising standards in the group at the same time. Right footed, but Bueno has played on the left before, showing a willingness to put himself before the team.
Recruitment
Head coach Gary O’Neil trusted his recruitment team with the signing of Bueno. In need of a central defender, Ben Wrigglesworth, Elliot Sutcliffe and the team did their research and were ready to go. Once given the green light by Matt Hobbs, they presented their findings on Bueno to him and O’Neil, ensuring all were singing off the same hymn sheet. All were involved in the recruitment process and pleased with the final outcome.
