£65m Premier League star wants to join Arsenal

Has there been a more divisive signing among Arsenal supporters than Martin Zubimendi in recent years?

After signing for the Gunners a year ago, the Spaniard immediately took to Premier League life like a duck to water. He oozed class on the ball, could punch balls between the lines and was even scoring goals. He netted twice against Nottingham Forest in the early knockings of the season.

However, the longer the campaign played out, the more we saw of Zubimendi’s limitations. Now, there are a few reasons. Either the European Championship winner isn’t actually suited to Mikel Arteta’s style of play or he was simply knackered.

For now, we’ll put it down to tiredness. Last season he played a colossal amount of football. In fact, only Declan Rice among Arsenal’s outfield contingent played more minutes.

It was a long and arduous season and even though it culminated in a winner’s medal for Zubimendi, he was usurpsed in the midfield pecking order by the young Myles Lewis-Skelly.

So, what does the future hold for the 27-year-old and what will happen if they sign another midfielder?

Big-money Premier League star wants Arsenal move

As a result of Zubimendi’s form and fitness towards the back end of the title-winning season, Andrea Berta and Co have made signing a new midfielder this summer a top priority.

Several have been looked at. Sandro Tonali was open to the prospect of joining the Gunners before he completed a £100m move to Tottenham Hotspur while Bournemouth’s Alex Scott is believed to be a leading target. However, the Cherries are insisting that he is not for sale.

Another primary target is Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi, one of the stars on the going World Cup in North America.

However, it would be appear that if Arsenal could prise away any midfielder from their current club it would be Bruno Guimaraes. The Gunners have already explored a move via intermediaries, seeing a £55m offer rejected for his services.

Yet, even after the Toon sold Tonali, Berta is ready to ramp up his chase for the Brazilian midfield general.

According to the Daily Mail, despite seeing that previous offer rebuffed, Guimares ‘wants’ the move to Arsenal and so do his representatives.

The midfielder’s contract at St James’ Park expires in two years and at the age of 28, now feels like the peak time to sell. With that in mind, Newcastle could be looking at a situation where they are forced to reluctantly accept a bid of around £65m.

How Guimares compares to Martin Zubimendi

When Arsenal acquired Zubimendi during the summer of 2025 it was seen as a big coup. A year before, Liverpool had tracked him closely and were believed to be really keen on bringing him to Anfield. Alas, he ended up in north London.

For the most part, the Spaniard should be seen as a success story. Rice has complimented him on plenty of occasions, notably hailing their midfield partnership as “outstanding”.

However, due to a lack of depth and a lack of trust in Christian Norgaard to feature regularly, the pair of them looked incredibly tired once all was said and done. Rice is even said to be managing neural pain during England’s World Cup campaign.

As a result, the acquisition of a new midfielder feels like a must. If it’s Guimaraes, that would be an even bigger bonus. Hailed as “one of the best midfielders in the world” by fellow Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli, there is plenty to like about the Newcastle captain, not least the fact he’s a natural born leader.

For a long time, Guimaraes has often been seen as a dogged and aggresive duel winner. He loves a battle, notably picking up 33 yellow cards in the Premier League since arriving in 2022. For context, only ten midfielders have picked up more in that time.

However, over the last year, he’s also become mightily effective in the final third. Last term, Zubimendi only scored six goals and provided three assists in all competitions. Bruno, on the other hand, scored nine and assisted eight.

As far as attacking output is concerned, Arsenal would land an upgrade here but it’s not the only area where Guimaraes betters his potential new teammate.

Indeed, when we analyse every crucial metric for a midfielder, as well as a few additional areas, it becomes clear that as a whole, Guimaraes is streets ahead of Zubimendi.

Not only is he involved in the final third more, but he’s a better dribbler and carrier of the ball. He’s far more progressive with his actions and that was one of the key criticisms surrounding the Spain international last season. He really struggled to progress play but Newcastle’s skipper would instantly solve that.

As far as defensive work is concerned, Guimaraes is better in that regard too, winning more duels and producing more ball recoveries.

Zubimendi is not a bad midfielder, far from it, but if Arsenal are to go the next level then having someone like the Toon star alongside Rice would be ideal.