By Daily Sports on January 15, 2020

Arsenal are interested in signing midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, according to Athletico Paranaense president Mario Celso Petraglia.

The 22-year-old Brazilian central midfielder has already made 84 appearances for his club, scoring seven times and recording an additional five assists, and has caught the eye with some impressive displays.

According to Petraglia, the Gunners have registered an interest in the young talent but will seemingly not be making a move in the January transfer window, preferring to wait until summer.

This may be down to the fact that Arsenal already have six central midfielders at the club, with Dani Ceballos still on loan from Real Madrid and Granit Xhaka having been convinced to snub the advances of Hertha Berlin and stay by head coach Mikel Arteta.

“Arsenal are interested but will only make an offer towards the end of the season,” Petraglia said to O Jogo.

Arsenal are not the only team after Guimaraes, however, with Portuguese champions Benfica heavily linked and reportedly already in negotiations ahead of a possible transfer.

The Brazilian club were initially holding out for €30m (£25.7m/$33.4m) but are now prepared to lower their price tag as Benfica try to clinch a better deal for the young midfielder.

“Yes, it is true [that Benfica have made an offer]. Yesterday, Benfica’s official proposal to hire Bruno Guimaraes arrived,” Petraglia added.

“We are going to study Benfica’s proposal. On Monday, we will meet the club’s management to assess this situation.”

La Liga giants Atletico Madrid are thought to have first refusal on the player, but Petraglia says that the Spanish outfit have been in touch to say that they have no intention of purchasing the midfielder.

“[Atletico Madrid ] have already informed [Athletico Paranaense] that they are not interested in the player,” Petraglia continued.

The player himself has remained coy on rumours of his departure, claiming he is concentrating solely on his football in Brazil.

However, he did confirm that there were clubs that had been in contact about the possibility of securing his signature. “I am focused exclusively on selection and I ask my entrepreneurs to tell me little of what is going on. And the little I knew was that there were contacts,” he said at a press conference. (Goal)

•PHOTO: Bruno Guimaraes

Source Daily Sports

Posted January 15, 2020

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