Bruno Guimaraes broke the transfer record for midfielders aged 28 and over when joining Arsenal for a fee of £75 million. This figure shows that Mikel Arteta and Arsenal's recruitment team have great faith in the Brazilian international. At the same time, the deal also reflects Arsenal's clear goal of increasing strength immediately instead of just investing in the future.
At the age of 28, Guimaraes is not the type of rookie expected to create value in the coming years. However, Arsenal has enough convincing reasons to accept a large investment.
The Brazilian midfielder rarely has to be sidelined due to injury and can play many roles in Arteta's 4-3-3 system. This adaptability is especially important when Declan Rice has physical problems, while Martin Odegaard only played about 40% of the maximum minutes in the Premier League last season.
The most notable point lies in Guimaraes' ability to defend and break attacks. Arsenal lost the ball 1,492 times in the last 1/3 of the pitch in the Premier League last season, the fourth most in the league. Such situations can open up counter-attacking opportunities for opponents. Therefore, a midfielder with good ball recovery and danger prevention capabilities will bring great value to Arteta's system.
Guimaraes is also not afraid to use tactical fouls when necessary. He was penalized 45 times in the Premier League last season and all achieved this number in all 4 full seasons wearing the Newcastle shirt. Although in the group of players who have fouled the most in the league since his debut at Newcastle in February 2022, Guimaraes is not a regular card-receiving player. There are up to 9 players who received more yellow cards than him in the same period.
More notably, Guimaraes is also particularly effective in the opposite direction: earning free kicks for his team. He has been fouled by the opponent 410 times in the Premier League, at least 100 times more than any other player during his time playing in England. Only Mattia Zaccagni has more fouls by the opponent than Guimaraes in the top European leagues.
This could be an important weapon for Arsenal, a team that exploits set pieces very well. Since the beginning of 2022, only 2 players have scored more goals from set pieces than Guimaraes in the Premier League. Notably, one of them is the Arsenal player they own.
Guimaraes has scored 12 goals from set pieces in this period, the most among midfielders and forwards in the Premier League. The ability to bring in free kicks and directly create goals helps him add another attacking option for Arsenal, instead of just playing a defensive role in midfield.
The appearance of Guimaraes also helps Arteta have another experienced player in the context of Newcastle losing many key players such as Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon. However, for Arsenal, the greatest value of this deal lies in suitability. Guimaraes can both increase control of the midfield area, limit counter-attacks and create more opportunities from set pieces.
The fee of 75 million pounds may be very large for a midfielder who is about to turn 30. But for Arsenal, this is an investment aimed at the immediate goal - completing the squad and immediately increasing competitiveness.
