Mikel Arteta said the signing of Bruno Guimaraes will help Arsenal go to the “next level” and hinted that the Gunners are not done with their summer transfer activity.
The signing of Guimaraes for £75m from Newcastle United was officially announced on Saturday and the 28-year-old midfielder was introduced to the fans inside Emirates Stadium before the match against Borussia Dortmund.
Guimaraes was not included in the matchday squad for the 3-2 loss to Dortmund but is likely to be involved in the game against Como on Wednesday.
Arteta was quick to explain why he was so keen to bring the Brazilian to north London.
“I’m delighted to have him,” he said. “We see very clearly – especially the energy that he brought immediately to the training ground – the hunger, the desire to come here and create a big history at the club.
“And that’s the ambition that we need.
“We want to go to the next level and are very, very much convinced that we’re going to need players with such a personality, desire and character to push everybody inside the organisation to go even higher.”
The signing of Guimaraes means Arteta now has plenty of choice in midfield with Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Martin Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri, Eberechi Eze and Mikel Merino all options in the middle of the pitch.
And Arteta went into detail about what he hopes Guimaraes can bring to the Arsenal side this season as they look to defend their Premier League title.
“On the pitch, versatility to play in two different positions in relation to what we want or the opponent does,” he said.
“A player which obviously has tremendous timing and intuition to win the ball back and progress play very, very fast.
“He’s a player that is very comfortable putting people through, moving between the lines, moving in behind.
“And then he’s a goal threat. He’s got a smell and a really good timing to get in the box. And he has the capacity to finish the actions.”
Arsenal have already completed the signing of Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge and brought in goalkeeper Illan Meslier on a free transfer.
The Gunners pursued Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr but the forward signed a new six-year deal to remain in Spain. Yet Arteta was clear Arsenal are going to continue to try to be ambitious in the transfer market
“Well, that’s what we’re trying to do. If we have the right player in the market to make us much better. We are very much looking forward to that.”
The Arsenal manager also gave an update on the fitness of Jurrien Timber, saying he is still “weeks away” from returning to fitness, while William Saliba is another long-term absentee as he recovers from a back injury.