Following complicated and lengthy negotiations, Arsenal have finally confirmed the arrival of Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes. But who is the Brazil international, what will he bring to the side, and why is he costing £75 million?
Phil Costa reports.
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After some difficult performances in the home straight of last season where our (lack of) technical quality and ability to progress the ball was exposed, many fans set their eyes on a deeper-lying six who sets the tempo and makes 100 passes per game. I understood but never really agreed with that sentiment, because there are three elite ones in world football and they play for PSG, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Looking across Europe at the best of the rest; Manuel Locatelli, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Aleix Garcia, Angelo Stiller, they were either unattainable or didn’t convince me enough to push the big red button, so Arsenal were always signing another 6/8 style midfielder in my mind. That metronomic profile would have been lovely, but there certainly aren’t any doubts about Bruno in possession whose passing is incisive and ambitious.
Comfortable as the deepest midfielder or slightly further forward, his first thought is centred around hurting the opposition and turning defence into attack as quickly as possible. Despite missing six games with a hamstring problem towards the end of last season, the 28-year-old ranked in the top five players across the Premier League for defensive line-breaking passes (46) and through balls (21), making more line-breaking passes per 90 (6.97) than both Martin Zubimendi (4.25) and Declan Rice (3.61) which makes for encouraging reading. For reference, Martin Odegaard made 7.21 line-breaking passes per 90.
When assessing forward players, it’s seen as a positive trait to be able to miss chances and not be affected by it – to shake things off and go again. Bruno falls into that category because his bravery when distributing means that five through balls might not come off, but you can be sure he’s already thinking about the next one. He wants to try the difficult passes and there’s real craft and disguise in some of his creative play, alongside the more obvious diagonal switches and balls into the channel.
More importantly, there are two players who I think could benefit from featuring alongside Bruno: Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres. Newcastle are very different to Arsenal but there are some specific passes in his repertoire that became a theme of his time up north. Cute, slipped passes between the centre back and left back, and first time passes over the top for the centre forward to run onto.
Alexander Isak was a major beneficiary of those first-time passes in behind (when he didn’t have the muscle mass of a toothpick) and Gyokeres loves to make those runs, where he can get into his stride early and charge through on goal. Similarly, Saka and Martin Odegaard developed a telepathic partnership down that right hand side where they would often pick the lock against deep defences, with little exchanges, one-twos, and the Brazilian loves that little pass inside to break games open.
Adventurous passing = more turnovers, and things won’t always come off, but in a typically safe midfield we can afford someone being more punchy in hope of forcing more dangerous situations.
His game isn’t really about beating people in close quarters, but Bruno always makes himself available to receive from the defence and turn away from pressure, particularly with clever first-time touches into space that make opponents look silly. He is technical, if a bit bumbly at times, but his security under pressure is excellent – an area in which Arsenal struggled during that tough run in April and early May.
Despite his passing catching the eye, we’re talking about a two-way midfielder in every sense and you can see that in his defensive output. Newcastle were mostly horrible to play against under Eddie Howe and Bruno felt like a microcosm of that; he’s intense, gritty and a fierce competitor when his feet – as opposed to his elbows – do the talking.
According to Opta data, the Brazilian won more duels (6.1) and made more tackles (2.1) per 90 than any other Arsenal midfielder last season, with only Rice (5.2 to his 5.0) making more recoveries. Despite his overall numbers dropping over time, he finished either first or second among Newcastle players for duels won in each of his four seasons at the club, and showed a real knack for winning the ball high up the pitch last term when handed more freedom to push forward beyond Sandro Tonali.
The 28-year-old reads the game well and knows how to squeeze himself between the ball and opposition players, with his tackling technique surprisingly patient – yet tenacious – which means he escapes duels with possession more often than not. Over the past three Premier League seasons, Bruno is the only midfielder with more than 200 duels won, possessions won, tackles and fouls won – highlighting his willingness to do the dirty work.
However, there are occasions where he jumps in and gets bypassed, and without top end speed (or a Rice-level engine) to help recover space that could prove problematic; especially in a more traditional double pivot. His temperament is also another question mark because we know Bruno plays with total commitment, but he can get sucked into the emotion of games which leads to silly fouls and unnecessary spats on the pitch, which may hurt him without the Newcastle get out of jail free card.
The consistency of his end product from midfield has also been overlooked. Over time, Rice added that quality to his game and Zubimendi came up with some key moments, but Arsenal were a low-scoring side last season (although that was a league-wide trend) and goals from midfield were scarce. Bruno, meanwhile, enjoyed his most productive season last term – scoring nine league goals and assisting a further five – making it 30 goals and 25 assists in 153 league appearances for Newcastle.
Those are impressive numbers and you can see he’s got a decent strike from the edge of the box, but the midfielder is also a smooth operator in congested areas, making late runs that go un-tracked, or getting on the end of low cutbacks.
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— Phil Costa (@philcosta.bsky.social) 2026-08-07T07:10:22.214Z
Is this a slight overpay for a 28-year-old (soon to be 29-year-old) midfielder with other options available – potentially. As Lewis Ambrose points out, the largest fee ever paid for a midfielder 28 or over, until now, was the €77.5m (£66m) Real Madrid paid Juventus to sign Zinedine Zidane back in 2001. But the current market has decimated what we previously knew about value, and I’m more interested in Arsenal capitalising on a very real window which could see them dominate English football for the next few seasons.
Manchester City and Liverpool are both in transition under new managers and dealing with major squad changes, while Chelsea and Manchester United continue to navigate life under new head coaches themselves. Arsenal, meanwhile, can finally breathe after shaking the title monkey off their backs last season, have one of the strongest squads in Europe and are perfectly placed to defend their crown – adding a battle-hardened midfielder who knows the league makes total sense.
You could see Bruno playing alongside Rice, forming one of the most mobile and combative midfield pairings in the country. You could see Bruno playing instead of Rice, whose body might as well be glued together with papier mache and modelling clay, and you could also see Bruno playing ahead of Rice should certain opposition or game states require it.
But there are a multitude of different options and pairings you could think of, with Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino all offering something different, and suddenly you’ve got some really exciting options. Then you get to the leadership aspect of the player, the competitor, the emotional heartbeat, the shithouse who others love to hate – but there’s nobody better when they are wearing your colours. Of course he’s a bit of a twat, but he’s our twat now.
Life has a strange way of working itself out. It should’ve been him walking out with Edu at Heathrow Airport six-and-a-half years ago – not handsome Pablo Mari – and they definitely should’ve signed him two years later before Newcastle nipped in with Lyon needing to sell. Arsenal had to wear that mistake on more than one occasion but ultimately they will have the last laugh; stealing the widely adored captain from St James’ Park with yet more silverware in their sights.
And those who laugh last, usually laugh the best.
