Arsenal submit bid for £100m-rated PL star

New Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta has an almighty job on his fingers to proper the wrongs of prior switch home windows this summer season.

Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori have been introduced in final summer season and whereas the Spaniard has been an ready deputy up prime amid the Gunners’ harm mayhem, Calafiori has been out and in of the remedy desk with harm regularly.

A shiny centre-forward continues to elude Mikel Arteta and Co with the hierarchy on the Emirates Stadium deciding to not signal anybody within the winter window.

That has confirmed extremely detrimental to their title problem, now sitting 12 factors behind Liverpool whereas a Champions League quarter-final tie towards Actual Madrid awaits. Good luck with that if Merino remains to be up entrance.

Berta will want a brand new ahead however he should additionally take a look at different positions. That features the Granit Xhaka position which has been left vacated since he departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summertime of 2023.

How Arsenal have tried fixing their Xhaka-shaped gap

When Xhaka left after a career-best season, it left Arsenal supporters feeling a bit empty.

The Swiss was a marmite determine and almost ended his stint on the membership after he threw the captain’s armband to the ground throughout that notorious incident towards Crystal Palace.

His revival was fairly one thing, subsequently, scoring 9 targets and aiding seven strikes for his teammates all through 2022/23.

Since then, Arteta has tried and failed to switch the qualities Xhaka dropped at that left sided 8 position in the course of the park.

Kai Havertz was signed as the answer however has as an alternative develop into a centre-forward, Merino did not fairly dwell as much as expectations in midfield and is now filling in for Havertz whereas he is out injured.

Then there’s Declan Rice. The £105m-record signing was dropped at the Emirates as a sitting midfielder however has been given extra offensive license, significantly this season.

Whereas Rice has netted 5 occasions in 2024/25 and likewise posted eight assists – nearly all of which have come from set-plays – they’ve nonetheless struggled to seek out the best stability.

The previous West Ham man remains to be studying the extra superior position and he isn’t left-footed. Consequently, Arsenal’s left aspect has suffered.

Winger Gabriel Martinelli bagged 15 targets throughout Xhaka’s remaining marketing campaign in pink and white and in almost two years since Xhaka’s departure, he has scored the identical variety of targets over a a lot bigger time-frame.

Maybe this man might be the answer in midfield…

Arsenal make bid for his or her new Granit Xhaka

Whereas Arsenal’s precedence this summer season have to be a striker, if the chance emerges for the Gunners to signal one other midfielder they have to accomplish that.

In response to experiences, a deal to deliver Actual Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi to London is nearly as good as accomplished however there may be one other relatively flashier midfielder of their crosshairs.

Certainly, in keeping with experiences popping out of Spain, Arsenal have submitted a bid value £58m to prise Brazilian star Bruno Guimaraes away from Newcastle United.

The report claims that the Toon – current Carabao Cup winners – are unlikely to be keen to promote the 27-year-old who was rated as extremely as £100m in 2024.

If the Gunners are to signal him then it is probably it will take a bid near that. Arsenal have been concerned with Guimaraes stemming again to his days in Ligue 1 with Lyon.

How Bruno Guimaraes compares to Granit Xhaka and Declan Rice

Contemplating Guimaraes is right-footed then Arsenal might effectively encounter the identical form of issues they’ve had with Rice within the left 8 position. Nevertheless, with expertise of being a tempo setter and enjoying in a barely extra superior position than the Gunners’ no.41, he might suitably fill the position.

Not like Merino too, he would arrive with expertise of English soccer and thus is aware of precisely what it takes to maintain issues ticking over within the engine room of a Premier League membership.

Final season he scored seven targets and provided ten assists, numbers which might be definitely akin to Xhaka’s remaining marketing campaign within the capital, whereas in 2024/25, he has netted thrice and posted eight assists, numbers much like Rice within the remaining third.

Evaluating him to the membership’s report signing in a bit extra element, it is evident the Brazil worldwide has acquired by way of extra defensive work however that is not on the expense of his attacking involvements both.

Crucially, the “world-class” midfielder – as he was described by scout Jacek Kulig – additionally has that nasty aspect to his sport that Xhaka so famously dropped at a number of Arsenal sides.

In 2024/25, no participant has been fouled extra repeatedly than Guimaraes within the Premier League (92 occasions), whereas solely 9 gamers have dedicated extra fouls than the Brazilian (42).

Not many gamers decide up extra yellow playing cards both. Guimaraes was handed 14 in all competitions final time period.

To place these numbers into context, Xhaka holds the report for probably the most fouls dedicated by an Arsenal participant throughout a single Premier League season with 57. If we analyse probably the most yellow-carded gamers in Arsenal historical past, the Switzerland worldwide seems repeatedly too.

Wanting on the record for the highest ten Arsenal gamers with probably the most yellow playing cards throughout a single Premier League marketing campaign, Xhaka seems 4 occasions, choosing up 40 cautions throughout the 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2021/22 seasons.

So, even when Guimaraes is more proficient on his proper foot, it is clear he’d deliver an identical degree of nastiness to Arteta’s midfield. Maybe that is not a foul factor.