Arteta backs ‘Warrior’ Guimarães To Ignite New Arsenal

Mikel Arteta believes new signing Bruno Guimarães can bring a new dimension to Premier League champions Arsenal and help drive the club to greater success.

The Brazil midfielder was introduced to Arsenal supporters before Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup, following his £75 million move from Newcastle United.

The 28-year-old has signed a four-year contract and adds further quality and experience to an already strong Arsenal midfield featuring Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze.

Arteta believes Guimarães’ competitive character, leadership and technical ability will have a positive impact on the squad.

“You can see the immediate reaction,” Arteta told the club’s website. “I think he describes himself as a warrior. I think he’s a warrior with tremendous quality as well, intuition, leadership and charisma that is going to help us.

“It is going to really ignite something different in the team. I think he’s going to push everybody inside the team as well, and that’s the type of player that we need.”

Arsenal ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League title last season after finishing runners-up in the previous three campaigns. They also reached the finals of the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Guimarães watched from the sidelines as Arsenal suffered defeat against Dortmund in their final major pre-season test.

Samuele Inácio and Konstantinos Karetsas put the German side 2-0 ahead before Joane Gadou’s goal extended their advantage. Ethan Nwaneri pulled one back for Arsenal before Viktor Gyökeres converted a penalty.

Arsenal subsequently won a pre-arranged penalty shoot-out 5-4.

Arteta admitted he was disappointed with the defeat but identified positives from the performance, particularly in attack.

“I’m disappointed that we lost the game,” the Arsenal manager said.

“I think there were some poor moments where we were not recognisable, especially in set pieces and defending actions and timings that we are normally very efficient in.

“But there were also some very, very positive attacking combinations and big chances that some of them didn’t finish in anything because of the final pass, despite them being completely open.

“Overall, I’m disappointed because you want to win the games in any context, and today we haven’t managed to do that.”

Arsenal will continue their preparations for the new season against Manchester City in the Community Shield on 16 August before beginning their Premier League title defence at home to Coventry City on 21 August.