Mikel Arteta believes new signing Bruno Guimarães will bring a new dimension to Premier League champions Arsenal and help drive the club to greater success.
The Brazilian midfielder was introduced to Arsenal fans prior to Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup following his £75m move from Newcastle United.
The 28-year-old has signed a four-year deal and brings more quality and experience to an already strong Arsenal midfield that includes Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze.
The Portuguese international is a player that Arteta believes will add a lot to the squad with his competitive character, leadership and technical ability.
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“You can see the instant reaction,” Arteta said on the club’s website. “I think he calls himself a warrior. I think he’s a warrior with tremendous quality too, intuition, leadership and charisma that is going to help us.
“It’s going to really fire up 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 finished last season by ending a 22-year wait for the Premier League title, having been runners-up in the previous three campaigns. They also made it to the final of both the Champions League and the Carabao Cup.
Arsenal’s final major pre-season test ended in defeat against Dortmund and Guimarães was watching from the sidelines.
Joane Gadou’s goal added to Germany’s cushion after Samuele Inácio and Konstantinos Karetsas put the home team 2-0 up. Ethan Nwaneri pulled one back for Arsenal but Viktor Gyökeres scored a penalty.
Arsenal then won a prearranged penalty shoot-out 5-4.
Arteta admitted he was disappointed with the loss but found some positives from the display, especially going forward.
“I am disappointed we lost the game,” said the Arsenal boss.
“I think there were some poor moments where we were not recognizable, 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 end in anything because of the final pass, even when they were completely open.
Overall, I’m disappointed because you always want to win the games, whatever the context, and today we haven’t managed to do that.
Arsenal will continue their preparations for the new season with a clash against Manchester City in the Community Shield on 16 August before kicking off their Premier League title defense at home to Coventry City on 21 August.
