What attracted Arsenal to Bruno Guimaraes?

[Getty Images] Arsenal have a leadership group that supports club captain Martin Odegaard but, with the addition of Bruno Guimaraes, they will be bringing in a player who is a natural leader. Guimaraes became Newcastle's talisman during his time at St James' Park and, as Arteta looks to maximise every marginal gain he can, the Brazilian's ability and his way of connecting with supporters will be another weapon. Arsenal have had campaigns seriously affected by injury, but Guimaraes has missed just 16 Premier League games since he signed for Newcastle in 2022. And his impact is backed up by the fact Newcastle's win percentage (12.5%), points per game (0.7), average goals for (0.8) and even average goals against (1.6) all suffer in the top flight when he is not available. Although it is an admittedly larger sample size, Opta data shows that Newcastle's win percentage (50.7%), points per game (1.7), average goals for (1.9) and average goals against (1.3) have been significantly higher when Guimaraes has featured. Guimaraes was Newcastle's top scorer in the league last season with nine goals and he provided four assists for Brazil at the World Cup in his five starts. Despite missing six games with hamstring injury towards the end of last season, Guimaraes still ranked in the top five players across the league for defensive line-breaking passes (46) and through balls (21). He also led the way at Newcastle for passes under high intensity pressure (998), which illustrates how he relishes responsibility. Staff at Newcastle have called him an "inspirational" figure and Arsenal and Arteta will be hoping he can produce the same feeling at Emirates Stadium. Read more here