Bruno Guimaraes had previously played for Newcastle United, of course, but Saturday's win against Brentford felt like the Brazil international's most meaningful cameo yet.
Perhaps, tellingly, the midfielder even threw his sweat-soaked shirt into the away end at full-time. As much as that was an acknowledgement of the support Bruno received, as his name was chanted throughout in the capital, clearly, the new signing also felt part of this 2-0 victory after more than half an hour on the field.
Bruno has been the final substitute introduced by Eddie Howe in recent weeks as Newcastle have attempted to see games out, but the 24-year-old was the first to enter the fray at the Brentford Community Stadium.
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It was the ideal situation to parachute Bruno into. Although Brentford were down to 10 men, the hosts showed some fight after the break, following the introduction of Christian Eriksen, and Newcastle needed more control in the middle of the park.
Rather than replace the in-form Joe Willock against Brentford, as he did in all of his previous games, interestingly, Bruno instead came on for winger Jacob Murphy.
It was, therefore, the first time Bruno, Willock, Jonjo Shelvey and Joelinton were all on the field together since the Brazilian completed his big-money move from Lyon last month.
Howe switched to a 4-2-3-1 to accommodate his midfielders as Bruno and Shelvey took up positions at the base of the midfield, Willock played as a number 10, Joelinton moved out wide to the right and Ryan Fraser stayed on the left.
Bruno is just as effective as a number eight but, perhaps, this number six role is where the 24-year-old may end up playing most of his games for Newcastle in the long-term.
Bruno was understandably eager to impress on Saturday and you would not necessarily have known that the new signing had only played 18 minutes of Premier League football up to that point as he repeatedly demanded the ball from his team-mates and barked orders.
Bruno quickly took up a role as the team's conductor and, remarkably, the midfielder had more touches (40) than Willock, Murphy and Chris Wood in little more than half an hour of action.
It is one thing getting on the ball but, crucially, Bruno was calm in possession, too, after completing 25 of the 29 passes he attempted.
Newcastle, ultimately, had 63% possession on Saturday, which is a real rarity for the Magpies, and Howe's side also completed 82% of their passes.
However, Howe felt his players still needed to do more with the ball and this is where Bruno will be a big help going forward when he eventually breaks into the starting line-up.
Bruno also caught the eye with his work off the ball and the midfielder pressed Brentford players on 16 occasions - only Willock pressed more - while only Joelinton (four) and Dan Burn (three) made more tackles and blocks respectively.
These were very decent numbers for a second-half substitute who is still adjusting to the pace and physicality of the Premier League.
Bruno's next challenge, of course, will be making a similar impact from the start when he inevitably makes his full debut during a gruelling run of fixtures next month.
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