Why Arsenal have failed to sign Guimaraes before: Nicolas Pepe, ‘indecisive’ and idiotic, release clause

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·5 de agosto de 2026

Why Arsenal have failed to sign Guimaraes before: Nicolas Pepe, ‘indecisive’ and idiotic, release clause

Arsenal will finally sign Bruno Guimaraes and satisfy a Mikel Arteta ‘obsession’ after a six-year pursuit, but why has it taken so long?

“Bruno has been a total dream target for Arteta, who’s been obsessed with getting him forever,” said Fabrizio Romano of a transfer both inexorable and glacial.

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He wasn’t wrong; Arsenal’s public interest in Guimaraes is roughly as old as Arteta’s managerial reign itself, with the Gunners confirmed to have targeted the Brazilian midfielder in the January 2020 transfer window.

The negotiations, claims and counter-claims in summer 2026 might seem remarkably protracted, but in the wider context of a pursuit dating back over six-and-a-half years, Arsenal are signing Guimaraes too well, if anything.

But why has it taken so long to finally push a move for Arteta’s “dream target” through? And what stopped them before?

Why Arsenal failed to sign Bruno Guimaraes the first time

Arsenal were known admirers of Guimaraes in January 2020, as confirmed by Athletico Paranaense president Mario Celso Petraglia.

Yet the Gunners, hamstrung by such financial mismanagement as committing £72m on Nicolas Pepe the previous summer, with Mesut Ozil still on £350,000 a week and Unai Emery’s sacking costing around £10m, preferred to wait until the end of the season to make an offer.

By then, Lyon had already emerged from the pack of suitors to bring Guimaraes to Europe.

The key, as mentioned by the midfielder on a number of occasions, was the personal approach of absurd free-kick merchant Juninho Pernambucano.

“It was a difficult decision because a lot of clubs wanted me but now I am with Lyon and I will do everything to integrate quickly,” Guimaraes said in one interview. “Juninho is responsible for my decision. He called my family and my agents. He was sincere and loyal. He has offered me a really nice career path.”

That career path likely didn’t include Steve Bruce’s then-plodding Newcastle, nor indeed Arteta’s floundering Arsenal.

Edu Gaspar did hold talks with the Guimaraes camp at the time, yet Arsenal’s insistence that any move would have to wait until the summer was their downfall.

While Atletico Madrid “never sent me a message or gave me a call to ask how I was doing,” and other teams were slow to act on their interest, the “transparent” Juninho made a lasting impression on Guimaraes, for whom “nothing in the world can beat a face-to-face and straightforward conversation”.

“Juninho spoke with my father, with my mother and with me. I believe in his word and I believe that I can be one of the best,” Guimaraes told The Guardian shortly after that £20m switch to Lyon.

Arsenal, meanwhile, signed Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares on loan that winter, with no permanent arrivals. Thomas Partey was their only senior midfield addition that summer.

Why Arsenal failed to sign Bruno Guimaraes the second time

Lyon could only contain Guimaraes’ talents for so long.

After two years which included a Champions League semi-final appearance, fourth-placed finish and nothing close to the Ligue Un title tilt he had envisaged, Guimaraes had his fated Premier League move fast-tracked.

But Arsenal were again left stranded by the speed with which one of their transfer rivals operated.

Theirs was a different brand of desperation to Newcastle’s in January 2022. The Gunners had a Champions League qualification bid to reinforce, while the Magpies had Premier League survival to fund on a fresh takeover budget.

Arsenal tricked themselves into feeling content with their lot, making no first-team signings in that window. Newcastle could not afford to take the same risk and so the biggest spenders in the world that month were able to rush Guimaraes through without worrying about woke concepts like trusting the process; no-one knew or cared what PSR was back then.

“I did speak to some other clubs,” Guimaraes said at the time. “But the only concrete offer came in from Newcastle and I really wanted to come here. I’ve always wanted to play in the Premier League and on top of that it was the start of a new sporting project for the club.”

It was, quite inevitably, Guimaraes who essentially doomed Arsenal’s Champions League push. The Brazilian scored the second goal in a Newcastle win at St James’ Park that May to give Spurs a fourth-place advantage even they weren’t going to Spurs up on the final day of the season against relegated Norwich.

As Sami Mokbel wrote in the Daily Mail: ‘The irony in Bruno Guimaraes slamming the Champions League door in Arsenal’s face on Monday night was inescapable.

‘The interest in Guimaraes from north London during the January window was entirely genuine, but it is said they were indecisive and slow in trying to close a deal.’

Luke Edwards, in the halcyon days when he was free to regurgitate positive lines directly from Eddie Howe gloating about signing a player, rather than parroting Newcastle PR explanations as to why they definitely weren’t going to sell, and then why they did sell but were still the biggest and best club ever, added:

‘Bruno’s advisors were aware of interest from the likes of Arsenal and Juventus and there had been informal conversations. But they, like all his other suitors, did not have the money to spend in January that Newcastle did. This was crucial. Everyone else wanted to wait until the summer. ‘Lyon would have liked to hold on to Bruno until the end of the season, but they also needed the money after suffering huge losses during the pandemic and the collapse of a television deal in France. ‘When Newcastle pushed hard enough on the door, it opened. More than £30m was paid up front and the fee will eventually rise to £43m. It was too much to turn down and personal terms were also swiftly thrashed out with the player who received a massive pay rise on what he earned at Lyon, leaping from around £30,000-a-week to £90,000.’

For the second time, Arsenal were burned by the timing of a Guimaraes move. While they invested more than £100m in the summer of 2022, their January incomings that year were Lino Sousa and Auston Trusty.

Why Arsenal failed to sign Bruno Guimaraes the third time

The truth, of course, is that Arsenal have technically never actually *failed* to sign Guimaraes; one cannot fail to sign a player they do not bid for. And until this summer, the Gunners hadn’t reached a point whereby an offer for Arteta’s “dream target” could be lodged.

Guimaraes has made his last two moves in January, and Arsenal’s reticence to deal with the requisite numbers of a mid-season signing neutered their interest both times.

The most viable summer of the last half a dozen in which the stars could have aligned for Arsenal and Guimaraes was 2024, and transfer journalist Ben Jacobs summed the situation up most succinctly then:

‘Guimaraes has a £100m release clause valid only until the final week in June. Arsenal have no plans to trigger the clause. They will only consider a move if the price drops. Martin Zubimendi remains a more concrete possibility.’

Even Zubimendi was initially too rich for Arsenal’s blood. He would join a year later, with £31m Mikel Merino the midfielder of choice once £100m Guimaraes was deemed out of reach.

Two years later, the Guimaraes pieces have finally fallen into place for the “obsessed” Arteta: a summer move, an acceptable price, a lack of rivals to the deal and Newcastle airbrushing their captain from history mean Arsenal can take their time and savour the moment – until Juninho Pernambucano rocks up again.