Bruno Guimaraes is a transfer target for Arsenal and the current Premier League champions are expected to be send an official bid to Newcastle for their captain.
With Brazil out of the World Cup, the Magpies captain is believed to be in talks and has already agreed personal terms with Arsenal. He has also informed the club that he is open to a move to North London.
JeoTips understands that discussions have already taken place and a £55 million bid was sent to Newcastle and that has been rejected already.
Arsenal who are known to be very meticulous when doing business in the transfer market have shown their interest to beef up the bidding price to 60 million and they hope this should be enough for Bruno Guimaraes.
Arsenal has been following the midfielder since his time in France when he played for Lyon and Mikel Arteta is a firm believer in the quality of the player and knows what he will bring to his side as they aim to get more acclaim after winning the Premier League.
The transfer of Bruno Guimaraes will probably work now that Newcastle missed out on Champions League football. This is certainly what has made them lose Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon to Tottenham and Barcelona respectively and the chance of losing Guimaraes does not seem impossible.
Of course, they wouldn’t want to lose all three players so they’ll probably try to get the Brazilian to stay.
However, staying does not look like what Bruno Guimaraes wants as reports suggest he has informed the club of his desire to leave and with Arsenal playing good football, challenging for titles, it is hard to see Bruno Guimaraes pass on such a move.
Newcastle could try to frustrate that move as it looks like they are doing now. They may be considering overshooting the price for Bruno Guimaraes somewhere closer to 75-80 million like Matheus Fernandez of relegated West Ham United cost Tottenham.
Although age plays a crucial role in the negotiations as well and for Newcastle, letting a 28 year old (who would be 29 by November) to go for around 60 million isn’t a bad deal whatsoever. Newcastle signed Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon in 2022 for £35m with £6.6m in add-ons as BBC reported and they most likely paid the add-ons in full so we can peg it at £40m.
After playing for 4 years, if he is sold for the current bid or the expected offer, this is not a bad deal whatsoever.
How Bruno Guimaraes Fits into the Arsenal Team
If Arsenal signs Bruno Guimarães, he is definitely going to fit into the 3 midfield that Mikel Arteta likes to operate.
He obviously won’t be a direct replacement for Declan Rice and we expect that his biggest impact will be to solve the creativity and ball progression that Arsenal has been lacking for quite some time.
Moving the ball from the defense through the midfield has been a problem that Arsenal suffered from and most teams that successfully beat the side in the previous seasons did so by cutting off passing lanes and since no one could receive the ball with their back to goal and turn to progress it, they seemed handicapped.
He will potentially act as a left number 8 along with Rice as the 6, and Martin Ødegaard as the right number 8. With this setup:
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Rice is going to focus on defensive coverage
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Bruno will be able to receive the ball under pressure, dictate the tempo, and carry the ball through midfield
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Then Ødegaard can stay higher, receive the ball, and create chances.
Aside from being able to progress the ball, Arteta likes long spells of possession and Bruno naturally knows when to slow or speed up the game.
In the 2025/26 season, Bruno Guimarães attempted 1,306 passes. He completed 1144 of those passes and only misplaced 162 which gives him a pass accuracy of 87.5% accuracy.
This shows his caution and ability to read the game to know when to make the right pass.
Bruno does not behave like the typical pure defensive midfielders which is also why he slots into central midfield positions as well.
He is able to contribute to goals and provide assists. Last season, he had 14 G/A with Newcastle scoring 9 goals and providing 5 assists.
His arrival at Arsenal will relieve Arsenal’s reliance on Ødegaard for chance creations and equally add defensive midfield structure.
He is an aggressive player, who presses with intensity, wins second balls, and has the energy Arteta will want to make use of.
Potential Weaknesses of Bruno Guimarães
But the biggest question is balance and how the team can gel up.
Bruno is a player who enjoys roaming towards the ball and thats much like what Odegaard does.
So if both players vacate their positions, it would mean Rice has got more grounds to cover and this is something opponents can exploit.
For Arteta, this could use a fix as simple as institutionalizing clear positional discipline or deciding to play either of Rice and Odegaard to partner with Rice and Zubimendi.
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