The transfer of Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal has been confirmed. After long negotiations, ESPN reports that Arsenal have agreed a fee of £75 million with Newcastle. This isn’t the first time Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has tried to sign Guimarães. In both the 2020 and 2022 January transfer windows, Arsenal tried to sign Guimarães but ended up missing out on him. This time Arsenal were successful and Arteta will be delighted that he signed a world class midfielder capable of transforming Arsenal’s midfield and making them favorites to retain the Premier League.
In January of 2020, newly appointed Arsenal manager Arteta, was looking to bolster his midfield. Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka fell out with the fans and was looked set to leave. Technical director Edu Gaspar went to Brazil to complete a deal for a young midfielder named Bruno Guimarães who was performing well for Brazilian side Athletico Paranaense. He impressed all the Arsenal scouts and data team but Xhaka ended up staying at the club and Edu came back from Brazil with a defender instead. Guimarães ended up moving to Lyon for £20 million.
In January of 2022 Arsenal needed to strengthen their team for the on going top 4 race. After an amazing 2 seasons, Guimarães wanted to move onto a more competitive league and requested to leave Lyon. Arsenal were once again interested in him and even sent a bid but it wasn’t enough to match Lyon’s demands. Once again the transfer of Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal didn’t work out. Newcastle who were just taken over by a Saudi group had the money and met Lyon’s demands, signing Guimarães for €40 million.
After leaving Brazil, Guimarães developed into an incredible player and achieved a lot at Lyon and Newcastle. In his first season at Lyon he helped the French side reach a Champions League semi final. At Newcastle he gained a reputation of being physical, winning lots of duels but also composed on the ball and capable of making accurate line breaking passes. Based off of an analysis by Data MB, Guimarães had 84.3 progressive passes and 71.0 key passes, significantly higher than any other midfielder at Arsenal. Guimarães became the first Newcastle captain in over 70 years to lift a trophy after their Carabao Cup success in 2025.
According to Gradient Sports, Guimarães scored a 87.0 for passing (20th of 681 midfielders) and scored a 90.9 for pressured passing(6th of 675 midfielders) highlighting his ability to progress the ball under pressure while retaining possession. Arsenal’s current starting midfielder Zubimendi scored a 68.9 in passing and a 68.7 in pressured passing. Squawka reports that in the last 3 seasons Guimarães has won more duels(697) than any other Premier League player. It’s clear why Arteta desperately wanted Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal.
Guimarães is the perfect partner for Declan Rice and makes the entire midfield better. Rice will focus on the defensive side, stopping counter attacks and ball carrying while Guimarães will focus on retaining possession and buildup. Having someone else to progress the ball will allow Ødegaard to not drop back so deep, he can stay higher up the pitch and have more touches in dangerous areas around the box. Having more freedom up the pitch should allow Ødegaard to get more goals/assists, something he has been missing the last 2 seasons.
Although Arsenal won the league their were questions about their football sometimes and reliance on set pieces. There were a couple of games where Arsenal struggled to progress the ball centrally such as the champions league final where they only had 27% possession vs PSG. Arteta wants to dominate the ball but also move at a quicker pace. Bruno Guimarães to Arsenal solves this problem.
One of his main strengths is being composed on the ball and making progressive passes during extreme pressure. His physically and ability to win duels will make an already solid defense even stronger. Not only is he a perfect partner for Rice, having another world class midfielder at Arsenal will allow Arteta to give Rice some needed rest. With Zubimendi and Myles Lewis-Skelly as Arsenal’s backup midfielders, they’ll finally have some quality cover and depth.
There’s a reason why Arteta has wanted to sign Guimarães since 2020. His signing will transform Arsenal’s midfield and improve their style of play. Bruno Guimarães is 28 and at the point in his career where he wants to be competing for big trophies like the Premier League and Champions League every season. Arsenal are the perfect team for him just as he’s the perfect midfielder for Arsenal.
Guimarães’s Brazilian teammate Vinícius Júnior is Arsenal’s next key transfer target.
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