Arsenal reportedly showed interest in signing Bruno Guimaraes during the 2026 World Cup.
The Brazilian delivered strong performances for his national team, at one point leading the assists chart. He finished the campaign with four assists in five games, a tally bettered only by France’s Michael Olise (7). Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Martin Odegaard and Brahim Diaz also had four each.
A penalty miss early on against Norway may sting for a while. But it certainly won’t hit his value around the league. Guimaraes has been one of the best and most complete midfielders in the Premier League since stepping foot in England four and a half years ago. His time at Newcastle United also might be up.
Manchester City targeted him a while back and now current champions Arsenal are rumoured to be interested in his services.
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Why could both Bruno Guimaraes and Arsenal benefit from summer move?
Bruno ready for next step
Guimaraes joined Newastle in 2022 and has already experienced two Champions League campaigns. The Magpies did manage to do well in the league during their first Champions League season, finishing seventh. They just missed out on European football for a second consecutive year.
But last year was different. After enjoying a solid league phase and easing past Qarabag in the playoff round, Newcastle were beaten 8-3 on aggregate by Barcelona in the round-of-16.
To make matters worse, they couldn’t take advantage of playing in one less competition and still struggled domesticall. The Mapgies lost five of their final eight Premier League matches, finishing 12th.
Guimaraes is a stand-out all-around midfielder constantly delivering 10-15 goal contributions every year. And he deserves to play in the Champions League. Newcastle haven’t been able to sustain European football consistently, so it may be time for him to go.
The 28-year-old is entering his prime and is coming off the best goalscoring season of his career (nine goals across all competitions).
Both at Newcastle and the Brazil national team, he dictates how his side presses, stepping up to help the forwards or sitting deep and closing down passing lanes.
His partnerships with Sandro Tonali and Lucas Paqueta worked wonders for club and country, respectively, giving both sides a great physical profile. Arsenal could use a more relentless player alongside Declan Rice and this could be why they are after Guimaraes.
Arsenal’s midfield needs
Mikel Arteta’s team selections at the end of the season might say a lot about what he thinks of the state of Arsenal’s midfield.
Martin Zubimendi walked in the starting XI as soon as he joined the Gunners from Real Sociedad last summer. He played all 38 of their league games and started 47 of their first 55 matches across all competitions.
However, the Spaniard fell out of favour and started just one of their final six games. It was a meaningless one as well, in their 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on final day having already won the title in a completely alternate lineup, just before the Champions League final.
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In this span, Zubimendi saw the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Eberechi Eze join Rice in the double pivot ahead of him. Could be an indication of Arteta’s level of satisfaction with his overall play and the desire to upgrade this position.
That’s not to say Zubimendi doesn’t have anything to offer. He is great at retaining and recycling possession, less of a ‘wildcard’ with the ball at his feet than Guimaraes, who takes more risks. And we all know how the Gunners have shown a certain aversion to risks at times.
Zubimendi and Guimaraes can both offer different things depending on what the game requires. They can also play together alongside one another. It would help ease the load off Rice’s shoulders and give him deserved rests from time to time.
Adding Guimaraes would just give Arteta more tactical flexibility and Arsenal more options and depth. The Brazilian, in return, would play more ‘meaningful’ and competitive football than he currently does at Newcastle, who will have just domestic competitions next season.
The only losers really would be the Magpies. It would be a big blow to lose both Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali, who has already departed for North London – but to play for Tottenham Hotspur.
But even then, they would get a good enough sum of money to reinvest in the squad. Spurs paid them a whopping £100million for the Italian and Guimaraes reportedly wouldn’t leave for less than £60m.