Morning all.
Well well, Bruno Guimaraes wants to join Arsenal!
The Athletic’s David Ornstein broke the news yesterday evening that Bruno Guimaraes has informed Newcastle United of his wish to leave St James’ Park and join Arsenal. The Premier League champions are stepping up their pursuit of the 28-year-old and have indicated a willingness to pay up to £60million for the midfielder, he added.
Now it’s up to Newcastle to make a decision, sell him or keep an unhappy player in the camp. The long and drawn out sale of Isak last summer was very different to to quick sales of Gordon and Tonali this this time around so hopefully, if this story is factual, the Brazilian will be through the Arsenal doors sooner rather than later.
It doesn’t matter if you and I are for or against this potential deal because it’s not us who have to work with him but I’m sure someone somewhere won’t be happy should Bruno end up at Arsenal. Let’s be honest though, he’s been excellent for Newcastle and a thorn in our side for a few years, well, until last season. To have him Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi and Myles Lewis-Skelly as our midfield options, would in my opinion, be the envy of many footballing managers. Mikel Merino is in the equation too of course, a player who if Arteta asked him to play in goal, would probably say yes and play well.
The rumours rumble on about our attacking players. Who stays and who goes is very much unclear. Ethan Nwaneri, who I personally would much rather see deputise for Bukayo Saka than Noni Madueke, future at Arsenal is uncertain.
Leandro Trossard is reported to have agreed a deal to join Besiktas and Gabriel Martinelli is constantly being linked to a departure too so it’s not wonder we’re linked to wingers. Who that might end up being is anyone’s guess but he needs to be much better than Trossard otherwise what’s the point?
Kroupi, Barcola, Rogers and Summerville are just a few names mentioned in the same sentence as Arsenal. Rogers sits top of the list according to The Athletic so if he wants to join Arsenal, perhaps like Bruno, he needs to tell his club that.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Arsenal have snapped up Illan Meslier on a free transfer. Romano suggests the 6’ 7” keeper passed his medical on Tuesday. This is a weird one in my opinion.
It’s nice to see a different PL club to us signing players from Chelsea as Man Utd have agreed at £50m deal for Andrey Santos. I wonder how much we’d have been fleeced for had it been Arsenal who wanted him? More than £50m I’m sure, after all, Santos is still just 22 years old.
Anyway, the World Cup quarterfinals get going tonight with France taking on Morocco at 9pm UK time. I’d love to see an upset but I can’t imagine there will be one.
Catch up in the comments.
Totally agree Potter.
Could be an important first couple of months for Mosquera as he’s likely to be the player who steps in for Saliba. Salmon at right back is a possibility if Timber doesn’t recover.
Zubimendi, MLS and Merino could have a busy month or two as well. The right wing options are a worry the longer England stay in the WC so yes, Ethan staying is important I think.
At the centre of the revamp is Spanish physio Joaquin Acedo, a long-term Arteta associate who was brought in during the final months of last season to investigate Arsenal’s processes around player fitness and injuries. He was on the team’s title parade bus, and is fully integrated and part of the staff for next season.
Daily Mail Sport understands that the pair’s relationship goes back to Arteta’s playing days at Real Sociedad in the 2004-05 season. An injured Arteta came across Acedo’s radar when the physiotherapist was working at Cadiz and treated him. Acedo subsequently looked after his fellow Spaniard when he moved to Everton and supported him throughout his playing career. It’s a bond that has spanned two decades, a professional relationship developed into a friendship built on years of collaboration and trust.
The arrival of Aced kickstarted the new-look medical team at Arsenal, with head of sports medicine Dr Zafar Iqbal the first big departure. It took insiders by surprise, the news announced just days after Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat against Paris Saint-Germain. Iqbal previously worked for Liverpool and Crystal Palace, before joining the north London club in 2024.
Tom Allen, head of sports science, followed soon after. Allen had joined the Gunners from Aston Villa in 2017 as a sports scientist before being promoted by Arteta in 2022. Sam Wilson, lead physical performance coach, is the latest to leave. Wilson initially worked with the academy sides after joining in 2014, and was elevated to the first team five years later. He is moving to Parma, reuniting with Carlos Cuesta who left Arteta’s coaching staff last summer to take the top job at the Serie A side.
Although not all the departures have been sackings this summer — some have left on their own accord — the goal has been simple: approach revamping the medical department in the same manner of the playing squad.
When the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mohamed Elneny and Gabriel Jesus were deemed surplus to requirements, they were either benched or sold. A similar pattern is now occurring with the medical staff over the summer.
The various vacancies are already nearly filled. Arsenal are set to bring in Dr Arnaldo Abrantes from Aston Villa. Abrantes previously spent three years at Nottingham Forest from August 2020 to 2023, following a sprinting career that saw him qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He will join ex-Villa colleague physiotherapist Carmen Marquez, who moved to Arsenal earlier in the year.
It’s understood that Villa’s injury record under former Gunners boss Unai Emery was noticed internally at Arsenal and is a factor in targeting the pair. In the last two seasons across all competitions, the Midlands club have the best injury record of all English clubs competing in European competitions in terms of matches missed due to injuries.
Rehab specialist Eneko Angulo is leaving Real Betis after 12 years to join the Gunners, while Braga fitness coach Antonio Gomes and 29-year-old physical trainer Jose Jimenez from Bayer Leverkusen are also expected to join. Jimenez was at Cadiz before joining Leverkusen in October.
The mass changes signal a strong pivot towards a fresh approach, but won’t be a sudden magic bullet, though. Far from it. Arteta’s training plans are known to be taxing. He believes that resilience — physical and mental — is forged in struggle.
That reached boiling point last season. Days after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth in April, a number of senior players gathered to discuss the cumulative toll on their bodies. They felt on the brink, with Arteta looking to up the ante after the loss. Eberechi Eze, one of the more genteel members of the group, had chosen to relay those concerns to Arteta, asking if the players could be afforded more space.
Subsequently, days off were increased and the intensity of sessions dialled down a notch – and it paid off. Arteta’s willingness to ease off showed there was already an acceptance that something had to change. So, the medical staff will have their hands full balancing these demands against the need to rest players.
The message is clear. With a wholesale overhaul behind the scenes, Arsenal hope fewer days in the treatment room will prove just as important as any signing in their bid to retain the Premier League title.
Guimaraes might not be everyone’s purchase of chioce but we have to accept that the world cup is likely to keep Rice out of the team for an extended period or we risk losing him completely.
The same goes for Saka and for that matter Saliba .
In Saka’s case it gives the reason to keep Nwaneri in the squad as the jury on Madueke is out certainly by the average fan if not by people who apparently see something different in him.
Going back over the years of Arsenal wingers , he is no Armstrong , Limpar, Pires, more like Skirton, Carter or even Marinello or Helder . All players that came with fanfares but mainly failed to deliver.
Saliba is one half of the rock that is the backbone of Arteta’s defensive stability and shoring that up is our first priority..
We might all want to see nice shiny new attacking players up front , but you have to keep the door shut behind them.