Arsenal: Bruno Guimarães an encore of the glorious unknown

Arsenal are now looking to be hot on the heals of Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimarães, and for those that don’t know him, that’s the exciting part.

Arsenal may need midfield help moving forward, and while names like Thomas Partey have tickled our fancies, it looks to be someone a bit less known who the Gunners turn to. The name rising to the top of the pile is Brazilian star Bruno Guimarães.

It used to be a joke at Arsenal that Arsene Wenger’s solution to everything was to sign an unknown French teenage attacking midfielder. He seemed to collect the sort and none of them ever panned out. In time, the joke lost it’s magic and became more of a frustration.

But since Arsene Wenger left, the glorious unknown of under-the-radar signings has completely changed tunes. Namely because of two people—Matteo Guendouzi and Gabriel Martinelli.

Arsenal nabbed Guendouzi from Ligue 2 and he was starting in the opening matches of his first season. Not just start, but thriving. Now, he’s arguably our most financially viable asset.

Gabriel Martinelli was supposed to be a prospect. A teenager picked up from Brazil at the behest of Edu and his pending arrival. But since arriving, Martinelli has scored and scored and scored and proven himself to be far readier than we could have ever expected.

Two glorious unknowns. Two fantastic results.

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So fantastic, in fact, that I have been begging for more archaeological digs into this glorious unknown, and recent transfer links to Bruno Guimarães seem to hint that I may be getting my wish. The big difference here is that Bruno Guimarães is rumored to cost £20m, whereas Martinelli and Guendouzi combined cost nowhere near that.

Not to mention that Bruno Guimarães is 22, whereas Guendouzi and Martinelli were both teenagers.

All this means is that there will be more expectations of the Brazilian defensive midfielder. He’s been as solid as can be playing in his native Brazil, but making the move to England is a completely different ball game. Not impossible, as Martinelli continues to prove, but difficult. That said, the Gunners could always use more defensive midfield options, as Lucas Torreira is really the only guy who fits that billing.

There’s plenty of reason to be excited about an unknown defensive midfielder. If Edu and Raul Sanllehi are both willing to go in on this guy, clearly there’s something there. And when you watch him play, you do see something quite delectable. He’s a Ruben Neves type midfielder, someone who contributes primarily defensively but also has the knack to move things forward.

And he’s big. Which is always nice.

Sure, we don’t know much about the guy. But the numbers speak. The highlights speak. And if Edu believes in him, you better damn well believe in him too.