6 months ago
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Barcelona legend Rivaldo fears Arsenal are destined to miss out on signing one of their key targets, Bruno Guimaraes, this summer if Manchester City are in the running.
With a second successive Premier League title challenge looking likely to fall short, the Gunners will no doubt look to strengthen their squad again come the close season.
Having opted against directly replacing Granit Xhaka 12 months ago, midfield reinforcements are likely to be the priority, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding the futures of Thomas Partey and Jorginho.
Recent reports suggest Arsenal are ready to reignite interest in Bruno, who has enjoyed another reputation enhancing campaign with Newcastle.
Arsenal tried to sign the Brazil international when he joined the Magpies from Lyon two-and-a-half years ago and he is likely to be available this summer.
However, with City also likely to be in the running, Rivaldo believes his compatriot would be more likely to end up at the Etihad Stadium.
He told Betfair: ‘Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes has been linked with Arsenal and Manchester City. He’s a great player and has been standing out this season.
‘It’s clear that nowadays everyone wants to play for Manchester City because they have Pep Guardiola and a very tight and harmonious team.
‘I believe that if Guimaraes leaves Newcastle, he will choose to go to Manchester City.’
Arsenal do, at least, have recent experience of beating City to a top midfield target, given Declan Rice snubbed a move to the reigning champions when he left West Ham last summer.
The England international has enjoyed a stellar debut campaign at the Emirates but Mikel Arteta is confident there is much more to come from his midfield talisman.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s game against Bournemouth, he said: ‘He’s been great. He’s had such an impact from day one.
‘It’s not easy when you come from a club that you’ve been at for a long time, but he settled really good. It’s a great group and I think they’ve been really supportive with him as well.
‘There are players that just come in and glide and become part of it straight away. I remember a conversation I had with him when we were still in the US in pre-season and he was [with us for] eight, nine days, and he said ‘it feels like I’ve been here for two years.’ That’s a good sign.
‘He’s really enthusiastic, eyes open, ears open, very willing to learn and take information. On top of that as well, you need to absorb an enormous amount of responsibility and expectations and that’s a difficult back sometimes to carry.
‘He’s done it in a really composed and calm way and that’s very impressive because he’s still a really young player.
‘I think there is much more there. We have to put it him more situations for him to explore that talent he has. He needs to recognise as well certain situations earlier in order to build that relationship and chemistry within the unit that he’s playing with, something that is still quite raw, especially with the amount of changes that we made on that left side this season.
‘All this is going to contribute to his development and hopefully we can see much more.’
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