Will Bruno Guimaraes be a top FPL pick at Arsenal?

Arsenal have finally confirmed the £75 million signing of Bruno Guimaraes (£7.0m) from Newcastle United.

The 28-year-old central midfielder is the latest high-profile Magpies departure, following Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali (£5.5m) and Eddie Howe.

So, what will the Brazilian bring to Arsenal, and is he still a viable Fantasy Premier League (FPL) asset?

READ MORE: Will Matthias Jaissle improve Newcastle players in FPL?

FPL HISTORY

Eased into the line-up after joining Newcastle in early 2022, he scored a backheel volley on his first start, versus Southampton. Four more goals came during that season’s final seven matches.

Guimaraes had very similar 2023/24 and 2025/26 campaigns in terms of points and attacking returns, the latter made more impressive because it included a two-month injury.

LAST SEASON

Trusted with Eddie Howe’s armband by now, Bruno G had a particularly strong October-to-February run at St James’ Park:

Between Gameweeks 7 and 25, his nine-match home streak brought seven goals, five assists and 85 points (including seven hauls). Of all players who started at least four times at home, no one had more points per start (7.5).

On the other hand, Guimaraes scored and assisted only once in 14 away trips. He was a big expected goals overachiever (xG, +3.40).

Still, such Tyneside form ensured that just Bruno Fernandes (£12.0m) and Erling Haaland (£15.5m) delivered more season-long double-digit delights (eight).

WHERE BRUNO G FITS IN AT ARSENAL

Above: A Transfermarkt look at Bruno Guimaraes’ positions in 2025/26 (left), 2024/25 (centre) and 2023/24 (right)

In Howe’s rigid 4-3-3 system, Guimaraes began as the central defensive midfielder, but evolved into a more talismanic, advanced role over time. He has flip-flopped between positions ever since, often interchanging with Tonali.

The versatility to play as a ‘number six’ and ‘number eight’ will appeal to Mikel Arteta.

“With Bruno joining us, we are further strengthening the heart of our team. As we have all seen, Bruno can play as a defensive midfielder and as a box-to-box player. He combines quality with quantity, and has provided goals and assists for his team every year.” – Arsenal’s Sporting Director, Andrea Berta

IS THERE ANY ROTATION RISK?

Arteta, of course, already has Declan Rice (£7.5m), Martin Odegaard (£6.5m), Martin Zubimendi (£5.5m), Mikel Merino (£6.0m), Eberechi Eze (£6.5m), Myles Lewis-Skelly (£5.5m) and even Kai Havertz (£7.5m) in the engine room.

Seeing this, will Guimaraes even be a nailed-on starter?

‘6’: Bruno, Zubimendi, Rice, Lewis-Skelly

‘8’: Rice, Odegaard, Bruno, Eze, Merino, Lewis-Skelly, Havertz

’10’: Odegaard, Eze, Havertz

The Gunners played a whopping 63 matches in all competitions last season. Just for context, that’s 23 more than Manchester United.

Zubimendi’s form suffered towards the end of 2025/26, having racked up over 4,000 minutes. Rice, even more overworked, was managing hamstring nerve pain from Christmas. Arteta may be keen on protecting those two a bit more this season.

In a sense, it’s mostly those two – Lewis-Skelly and Merino will likely fall back down the pecking order now – who Bruno is competing with. Odegaard and Eze are more 8/10-types, with Eze also an option on the left wing. It’s not often Arteta will start Odegaard and Eze in central midfield together.

Bruno’s signing is perhaps also an indication that Havertz will spend far less time in midfield and instead be more of a direct competition for Viktor Gyokeres (£7.5m).

BENEFIT OF AN EARLY WORLD CUP EXIT?

While there is longer-term rotation risk, you’d think Bruno Guimaraes is in a good position to start the season in Arsenal’s engine room.

Many of the Gunners’ central midfielders went deep into the World Cup and some have not even returned to pre-season training, let alone featured in a friendly.

Bruno’s Brazil team were eliminated two weeks before Spain and England, who each had two Arsenal midfielders in their ranks:

Bruno, while not yet appearing in a friendly, has been in training with Newcastle. Let’s see if he features in Arsenal’s Emirates Cup match against Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.

BRUNO V RICE IN 2025/26

Bruno and Rice had similar rates of chance creation (one every 55 mins v one every 49 mins) and expected assists (xA, 493.8 and 444.4) last season. Both were on a share of set plays, although Rice (95 corners taken) was more of a regular taker than the Brazilian (44 corners taken).

Bruno offered a bit more goal potential, although a shot in the box every 123 minutes still wasn’t great. It should also be said that two of his nine goals came from the penalty spot; he won’t be taking spot-kicks for Arsenal.

Bruno only achieved the DefCon tally on six occasions, meanwhile. Two while starting as a ‘six’, two as an ‘eight’, and two when in a double pivot. So, starting position did little to affect his DefCon potential.

Rice hit the threshold on 14 occasions, meanwhile.

Above: Rice v Bruno, sorted by defensive contributions per 90 minutes

IS BRUNO G AN FPL TARGET?

Usually, when we’re assessing a new signing’s worth, there’s a ‘not yet, maybe later’ policy. Bruno could be the other way around!

While Bruno may be slightly more of a rotation risk than he was at Newcastle in the longer term, you’d imagine he’ll be in the Arsenal midfield in the opening weeks. Many of his positional rivals haven’t yet returned from their post-World Cup break, while it remains to be seen how fit Rice is after his aforementioned hamstring issues – something that dragged into England duty this summer.

Arsenal only have one midweek match (matchday one of the UEFA Champions League) in the opening five Gameweeks, so you’d imagine rotation would be in short supply. That’s a very good-looking Gameweek 1 fixture, too…

But after the prolonged September/October international break, we’re into a busier period of midweek games.

And will he be as good an asset as he was at Newcastle? Not usually a defensive contributions (DefCon) guy – reaching the threshold only six times – he’ll now presumably be on fewer set-pieces, and won’t take penalties. Zubimendi only reached the DefCon threshold on six occasions in 34 starts last season, so if Bruno is to become the starting ‘six’ at Arsenal, there’s not much DefCon potential in that role.