Spending £80m on a nearly 28-year-old Brazilian central midfielder may feel excessive, but Arsenal only need to look at the success of Man City as inspiration in the deal.

In 2013, Man City spent £34million on a 28-year-old Brazilian midfielder plying his trade in Ukraine. Adjusted for football inflation, that would be around £80-90m in today’s market. The player on question would go on to play 384 games across 9seasons for Man City and would be the driving force behind 5 league titles and a total of 13 domestic and European honours.

For a time, Fernandinho was probably the best defensive midfielder in world football, and he was so good that City struggled for a long time to recruit a suitable long-term replacement until they signed Rodri.

Whilst £80m might see huge for Bruno Guimaraes, he is a player that can come in and make and instant impact.

Bruno is easily in the top 5 or 6 central midfielders in the league. Only really Declan Rice and Rodri are clear of him. He is then in that level below and with the likes of Moises Caicedo and Dominik Szoboszlai.

A key aspect of City’s recruitment in the last 15 years (and of the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich for as long as I can remember) is their financial strength means they do not need to worry about a players “sell on value”.

Due to their financial strength, these teams can sign the best in the world regardless of their age. Players who can make and instant instant impact and this means that they never really have to go through a rebuilding phases. Man U were also in this bracket in the 90s and naughties.

Having earned record revenues last summer, Arsenal are now (temporarily at least) in a position where we can amortise £80m over a 5-year contract and be happy if that player leaves for nothing. And if that player leads us to further success, then he will go down as a very successful signing.

What it’s important is we keep the balance of the squad right. recruiting someone like Bruno is excellent in terms of keeping us at the top level. Him, Rice and Martin Zubimendi are 3 brilliant options for those two midfield spots. But Rice and Zubimendi are 27 and Bruno will soon be 29.A

All 3 have another 3-5 years at least at the top level. What we then need to ensure is we are all future proofing the squad by also recruiting and developing younger talent. You then have your “oven-ready” signings like Bruno and someone like Myles Lewis Skelly at 10-years you get compliments him nicely.

Fans also have a tendency to write off players as they approach 30. But not every player deteriorates physically at the same time. And if the player has a good attitude then they can “reinvent” themselves and begin to play deeper, or in a less physically demanding role.

For now Bruno is probably best playing further forward as a box crashing midfielder. But he certainly has the IQ and guise to end up as a full time defensive midfielder if his legs begin to go.

He actually reminds me a lot of another former-Man City midfielder: Ilkay Gundogan.

Gundogan was always a fantastic player, but he probably played his best football from 2020-2023, for the age of 30 to 33.

UTA

Keenos