{"id":621433,"date":"2026-08-05T08:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T08:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/621433\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T08:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T08:30:14","slug":"arsenal-reasons-for-failing-to-sign-bruno-guimaraes-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/621433\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal reasons for failing to sign Bruno Guimaraes revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal<\/a> will finally sign Bruno Guimaraes and satisfy a Mikel Arteta \u2018obsession\u2019 after a six-year pursuit, but why has it taken so long?<\/p>\n

\u201cBruno has been a total dream target for Arteta, who\u2019s been obsessed with getting him forever,\u201d said Fabrizio Romano of a transfer both inexorable and glacial<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t wrong; Arsenal\u2019s public interest in Guimaraes is roughly as old as Arteta\u2019s managerial reign itself, with the Gunners confirmed to have targeted the Brazilian midfielder in the January 2020 transfer window<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The negotiations, claims and counter-claims in summer 2026 might seem remarkably protracted, but in the wider context of a pursuit dating back over six-and-a-half years, Arsenal are signing Guimaraes too well, if anything.<\/p>\n

But why has it taken so long to finally push a move for Arteta\u2019s \u201cdream target\u201d through? And what stopped them before?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why Arsenal failed to sign Bruno Guimaraes the first time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Arsenal were known admirers of Guimaraes in January 2020, as confirmed by Athletico Paranaense president Mario Celso Petraglia.<\/p>\n

Yet the Gunners, hamstrung by such financial mismanagement as committing \u00a372m on Nicolas Pepe the previous summer, with Mesut Ozil still on \u00a3350,000 a week and Unai Emery\u2019s sacking costing around \u00a310m, preferred to wait until the end of the season to make an offer.<\/p>\n

By then, Lyon had already emerged from the pack of suitors to bring Guimaraes to Europe.<\/p>\n

The key, as mentioned by the midfielder on a number of occasions, was the personal approach of absurd free-kick merchant Juninho Pernambucano<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a difficult decision because a lot of clubs wanted me but now I am with Lyon and I will do everything to integrate quickly,\u201d Guimaraes said in one interview. \u201cJuninho is responsible for my decision. He called my family and my agents. He was sincere and loyal. He has offered me a really nice career path.\u201d<\/p>\n

That career path likely didn\u2019t include Steve Bruce\u2019s then-plodding Newcastle, nor indeed Arteta\u2019s floundering Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Edu Gaspar did hold talks with the Guimaraes camp at the time, yet Arsenal\u2019s insistence that any move would have to wait until the summer was their downfall.<\/p>\n

While Atletico Madrid \u201cnever sent me a message or gave me a call to ask how I was doing,\u201d and other teams were slow to act on their interest, the \u201ctransparent\u201d Juninho made a lasting impression on Guimaraes, for whom \u201cnothing in the world can beat a face-to-face and straightforward conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cJuninho spoke with my father, with my mother and with me. I believe in his word and I believe that I can be one of the best,\u201d Guimaraes told The Guardian<\/a> shortly after that \u00a320m switch to Lyon.<\/p>\n

Arsenal, meanwhile, signed Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares on loan that winter, with no permanent arrivals. Thomas Partey was their only senior midfield addition that summer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why Arsenal failed to sign Bruno Guimaraes the second time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lyon could only contain Guimaraes\u2019 talents for so long.<\/p>\n

After two years which included a Champions League semi-final appearance, fourth-placed finish and nothing close to the Ligue Un title tilt he had envisaged<\/strong><\/a>, Guimaraes had his fated Premier League move fast-tracked.<\/p>\n

But Arsenal were again left stranded by the speed with which one of their transfer rivals operated.<\/p>\n

Theirs was a different brand of desperation to Newcastle\u2019s in January 2022. The Gunners had a Champions League qualification bid to reinforce, while the Magpies had Premier League survival to fund on a fresh takeover budget.<\/p>\n

Arsenal tricked themselves into feeling content with their lot<\/strong><\/a>, making no first-team signings in that window. Newcastle could not afford to take the same risk and so the biggest spenders in the world that month were able to rush Guimaraes through without worrying about woke concepts like trusting the process; no-one knew or cared what PSR was back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did speak to some other clubs,\u201d Guimaraes said at the time. \u201cBut the only concrete offer came in from Newcastle and I really wanted to come here. I\u2019ve always wanted to play in the Premier League and on top of that it was the start of a new sporting project for the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was, quite inevitably, Guimaraes who essentially doomed Arsenal\u2019s Champions League push<\/strong><\/a>. The Brazilian scored the second goal in a Newcastle win at St James\u2019 Park that May to give Spurs a fourth-place advantage even they weren\u2019t going to Spurs up on the final day of the season against relegated Norwich.<\/p>\n

As Sami Mokbel wrote in the Daily Mail<\/a>: \u2018The irony in Bruno Guimaraes slamming the Champions League door in Arsenal\u2019s face on Monday night was inescapable.<\/p>\n

\u2018The interest in Guimaraes from north London during the January window was entirely genuine, but it is said they were indecisive and slow in trying to close a deal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Luke Edwards, in the halcyon days when he was free to regurgitate positive lines directly from Eddie Howe<\/strong><\/a> gloating about signing a player, rather than parroting Newcastle PR explanations as to why they definitely weren\u2019t going to sell, and then why they did sell but were still the biggest and best club ever, added:<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Bruno\u2019s advisors were aware of interest from the likes of Arsenal and Juventus and there had been informal conversations. But they, like all his other suitors, did not have the money to spend in January that Newcastle did. This was crucial. Everyone else wanted to wait until the summer.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lyon would have liked to hold on to Bruno until the end of the season, but they also needed the money after suffering huge losses during the pandemic and the collapse of a television deal in France.<\/p>\n

\u2018When Newcastle pushed hard enough on the door, it opened. More than \u00a330m was paid up front and the fee will eventually rise to \u00a343m. It was too much to turn down and personal terms were also swiftly thrashed out with the player who received a massive pay rise on what he earned at Lyon, leaping from around \u00a330,000-a-week to \u00a390,000.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

For the second time, Arsenal were burned by the timing of a Guimaraes move. While they invested more than \u00a3100m in the summer of 2022, their January incomings that year were Lino Sousa and Auston Trusty.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why Arsenal failed to sign Bruno Guimaraes the third time<\/strong><\/p>\n

The truth, of course, is that Arsenal have technically never actually *failed* to sign Guimaraes; one cannot fail to sign a player they do not bid for. And until this summer, the Gunners hadn\u2019t reached a point whereby an offer for Arteta\u2019s \u201cdream target\u201d could be lodged.<\/p>\n

Guimaraes has made his last two moves in January, and Arsenal\u2019s reticence to deal with the requisite numbers of a mid-season signing neutered their interest both times.<\/p>\n

The most viable summer of the last half a dozen in which the stars could have aligned for Arsenal and Guimaraes was 2024<\/strong><\/a>, and transfer journalist Ben Jacobs summed the situation up most succinctly then:<\/p>\n

\n

\u2018Guimaraes has a \u00a3100m release clause valid only until the final week in June. Arsenal have no plans to trigger the clause. They will only consider a move if the price drops. Martin Zubimendi remains a more concrete possibility.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even Zubimendi was initially too rich for Arsenal\u2019s blood. He would join a year later, with \u00a331m Mikel Merino the midfielder of choice once \u00a3100m Guimaraes was deemed out of reach.<\/p>\n

Two years later, the Guimaraes pieces have finally fallen into place for the \u201cobsessed\u201d Arteta: a summer move, an acceptable price, a lack of rivals to the deal and Newcastle airbrushing their captain from history<\/strong><\/a> mean Arsenal can take their time and savour the moment \u2013 until Juninho Pernambucano rocks up again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal will finally sign Bruno Guimaraes and satisfy a Mikel Arteta \u2018obsession\u2019 after a six-year pursuit, but why…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[2725,9,10,17645,18,1322,13,14,793,6,794,19,17,11,12,15,16,1270,5,5004,7,8],"class_list":["post-621433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arsenal","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-bruno-guimaraes","tag-eire","tag-f365-features","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-front-page","tag-headlines","tag-home-page","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-newcastle-united","tag-news","tag-popular","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117041969663113528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}