Guimaraes to bring ‘warrior’ qualities to Arsenal midfield

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Bruno Guimaraes has pledged to play “like a warrior” after joining Arsenal, where he is relishing the opportunity to challenge for major trophies. 

On Saturday, the Premier League champions made Guimaraes their third signing of the transfer window – after Illan Meslier and Christos Tzolis – in a £75m deal.

Guimaraes joins an already well-stocked engine room department, with Mikel Arteta able to call upon Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino, in addition to his new Brazilian recruit.

For former club Newcastle United, Guimaraes won 1,030 duels and was fouled 410 times after making his Premier League debut in February 2022. Both figures are the most by any player in the competition during that time.

In addition, his 1,641 kilometres covered in the English top flight in that period is the second-largest distance covered by any player, behind Rice (1,703 kilometres).

“I’m very excited,” Guimaraes told Arsenal’s media channels. “I’m at the point of my life where I need a challenge like this. 

“I want to win trophies, I want to make history, and I think I’m in the right place to do it. I’m so excited to start.

“I can pass the ball, run a lot and play like a warrior, I’ll never give up. I will try to help the team. 

“I’m good with the ball, composed, very calm, and sometimes I can score some goals, and I hope to make everyone very, very happy here.”

Guimaraes tended to enjoy his duels with Arsenal while at Newcastle, covering more distance (98.6 kilometres), winning more duels (71) and committing more fouls (17) versus the Gunners than he did against any other team in the Premier League.

But in addition to that battling spirit, Guimaraes will bring guile to Arsenal’s midfield, having created 92.5% of his chances from open play since his Premier League debut (213 open-play chances created).

Since February 2022, the only two players to create a larger proportion of opportunities from open play in the competition are Dejan Kulusevski (94.6%) and Mohamed Salah (94.5%).

Guimaraes could make his Premier League debut for Arsenal against Frank Lampard’s Coventry City on August 21, with a Community Shield showdown with Manchester City to come before then.

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