2026-08-10 09:30:38

Mikel Arteta thinks Bruno Guimaraes can “ignite something different” in the Arsenal team.

The 28-year-old midfielder has moved to the Gunners from Newcastle United on a £75 million transfer, which was made official one day before Sunday’s (09.08.26) home game against Borussia Dortmund at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta said: “”I think he describes himself as a warrior.

“I think he’s a warrior with a tremendous quality as well and intuition and leadership and charisma that is going to help us, that is going to really ignite something different in the team.

“I’m delighted to have him. We see very clearly – especially the energy that he brought immediately to the training ground – the hunger, the desire to come here and create a big history at the club.

“That’s the ambition that we need.”

The Arsenal manager hinted there could be more new signings on the way as Arsenal try to push on after winning the Premier League last season.

He added: “We want to go to the next level and are very, very much convinced that we’re going to need players with such a personality, desire and character to push everybody inside the organisation to go even higher.”

After already bringing in Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge and goalkeeper Illan Meslier on a free transfer, Arteta is keen to remain ambitious before the end of the summer window.

He said: “Well, that’s what we’re trying to do. If we have the right player in the market to make us much better. We are very much looking forward to that.”

Arsenal have plenty of options in the centre of the park now, as Guimaraes joins the likes of Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Martin Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino.

Arteta praised his new signing, highlighting his “versatility to play in two different positions in relation to what we want or the opponent does”.

He described Guimaraes as a player with “tremendous timing and intuition to win the ball back and progress play very, very fast”.

He added: “And then he’s a goal threat. He’s got a smell and a really good timing to get in the box. And he has the capacity to finish the actions.”

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