New Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta has an almighty job on his hands to right the wrongs of prior transfer windows this summer.
Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori were brought in last summer and while the Spaniard has been an able deputy up top amid the Gunners’ injury mayhem, Calafiori has been in and out of the treatment table with injury on a regular basis.
A shiny centre-forward continues to elude Mikel Arteta and Co with the hierarchy at the Emirates Stadium deciding not to sign anyone in the winter window.
That has proven incredibly detrimental to their title challenge, now sitting 12 points behind Liverpool while a Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid awaits. Good luck with that if Merino is still up front.
Berta will need a new forward but he must also look at other positions. That includes the Granit Xhaka role which has been left vacated since he departed for Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2023.
How Arsenal have tried fixing their Xhaka-shaped hole
When Xhaka left after a career-best season, it left Arsenal supporters feeling a bit empty.
The Swiss was a marmite figure and nearly ended his stint at the club after he threw the captain’s armband to the floor during that infamous incident against Crystal Palace.
His revival was quite something, therefore, scoring nine goals and assisting seven strikes for his teammates throughout 2022/23.
32
2
2
5
38
1
7
10
29
4
2
10
31
1
2
10
31
1
2
7
27
1
2
10
37
7
7
5
Since then, Arteta has tried and failed to replace the qualities Xhaka brought to that left sided 8 role in the middle of the park.
Kai Havertz was signed as the solution but has instead become a centre-forward, Merino didn’t quite live up to expectations in midfield and is now filling in for Havertz while he’s out injured.
Then there’s Declan Rice. The £105m-record signing was brought to the Emirates as a sitting midfielder but has been given more offensive license, particularly this season.
While Rice has netted five times in 2024/25 and also posted eight assists – the majority of which have come from set-plays – they’ve still struggled to find the right balance.
The former West Ham man is still learning the more advanced role and he’s not left-footed. As a result, Arsenal’s left side has suffered.
Winger Gabriel Martinelli bagged 15 goals during Xhaka’s final campaign in red and white and in nearly two years since Xhaka’s departure, he has scored the same number of goals over a much larger time frame.
Perhaps this man could be the solution in midfield…
Arsenal make bid for their new Granit Xhaka
While Arsenal’s priority this summer must be a striker, if the opportunity emerges for the Gunners to sign another midfielder they must do so.
According to reports, a deal to bring Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi to London is as good as done but there is another rather flashier midfielder in their crosshairs.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
Indeed, according to reports coming out of Spain, Arsenal have submitted a bid worth £58m to prise Brazilian star Bruno Guimaraes away from Newcastle United.
The report claims that the Toon – recent Carabao Cup winners – are unlikely to be willing to sell the 27-year-old who was rated as highly as £100m in 2024.
If the Gunners are to sign him then it’s likely it’ll take a bid close to that. Arsenal have been interested in Guimaraes stemming back to his days in Ligue 1 with Lyon.
How Bruno Guimaraes compares to Granit Xhaka and Declan Rice
Considering Guimaraes is right-footed then Arsenal may well encounter the same sort of problems they’ve had with Rice in the left 8 role. However, with experience of being a tempo setter and playing in a slightly more advanced role than the Gunners’ no.41, he could suitably fill the role.
Unlike Merino too, he would arrive with experience of English football and thus knows exactly what it takes to keep things ticking over in the engine room of a Premier League club.
Last season he scored seven goals and supplied ten assists, numbers that are certainly comparable to Xhaka’s final campaign in the capital, while in 2024/25, he has netted three times and posted eight assists, numbers similar to Rice in the final third.
Comparing him to the club’s record signing in a bit more detail, it’s evident the Brazil international has got through more defensive work but that’s not at the expense of his attacking involvements either.
Crucially, the “world-class” midfielder – as he was described by scout Jacek Kulig – also has that nasty side to his game that Xhaka so famously brought to several Arsenal sides.
In 2024/25, no player has been fouled more regularly than Guimaraes in the Premier League (92 times), while only nine players have committed more fouls than the Brazilian (42).
#1 Bruno Guimaraes
92
#2 Anthony Gordon
58
#3 Matheus Cunha
58
#4 John McGinn
55
#5 Cole Palmer
53
#6 James Maddison
53
#7 Mohammed Kudus
49
#8 Youri Tielemans
47
#9 Georginio Rutter
45
#10 Moises Caicedo
44
Not many players pick up more yellow cards either. Guimaraes was handed 14 in all competitions last term.
To put those numbers into context, Xhaka holds the record for the most fouls committed by an Arsenal player across a single Premier League season with 57. If we analyse the most yellow-carded players in Arsenal history, the Switzerland international appears regularly too.
Looking at the list for the top ten Arsenal players with the most yellow cards across a single Premier League campaign, Xhaka appears four times, picking up 40 cautions across the 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2021/22 seasons.
So, even if Guimaraes is more adept on his right foot, it’s clear he’d bring a similar level of nastiness to Arteta’s midfield. Perhaps that isn’t a bad thing.
Worth £36m more than Guimaraes: Arsenal struck gold with "world-class" star
The exceptional big-money star is one of Arsenal’s best players.
2 ByJack Salveson HolmesMar 18, 2025
