Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has questioned Arsenal's £75m signing of Bruno Guimaraes, suggesting Tottenham Hotspur secured a better midfielder in Sandro Tonali this summer. Scholes made the comments on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, while acknowledging Guimaraes could still improve Mikel Arteta's side.
Scholes compares Guimaraes and Tonali
Guimaraes was unveiled to Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday following his move from Newcastle United. Arteta had identified the Brazilian as his top midfield target earlier in the summer, and Arsenal completed the deal after weeks of negotiations with Newcastle. Tonali, meanwhile, joined Tottenham in a club-record deal worth £100m, with Arsenal among several clubs that had expressed interest in the Italian.
Scholes, however, believes Tonali is the more complete player. 'I think Bruno Guimaraes will make Arsenal a better football team,' Scholes said. 'I don't think the football we watched from them was great. You need midfield players to make your team play good football – is he going to do that enough for Arsenal? I know they won the league but I don't think they got the midfield right last season. Maybe this is the answer to it but I do think Sandro Tonali is a better player, he's got more legs about him. I don't think Bruno is amazing physically but he might be more suited to Arsenal.'
Arteta hails Guimaraes' warrior mentality
Arteta has high hopes for Guimaraes, describing him as a 'warrior' who can help Arsenal reach 'the next level'. 'I think he describes himself as a warrior,' Arteta said. 'I think he's a warrior with a tremendous quality as well and intuition and leadership and charisma that is going to help us. It is going to really ignite something different in the team. I'm delighted to have him. We see very clearly – especially the energy that he brought immediately to the training ground – the hunger, the desire to come here and create a big history at the club. That's the ambition that we need. We want to go to the next level and are very, very much convinced that we're going to need players with such a personality, desire and character to push everybody inside the organisation to go even higher.'
Tonali reveals quick decision to join Tottenham
Tonali, meanwhile, said it took 'just 10 minutes' to decide to join Tottenham after speaking to new Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi. 'Honestly, I spoke with another team [also],' Tonali admitted. 'When you speak with a team, the first impression is a big thing and my impression was very positive. When you are happy after a 10-minute chat, it's everything, everything is perfect. I spoke with my wife – this was the first thing. We wanted to change our life, but not just for the city, we wanted to change everything. We spoke with two clubs. I understood after 10, 15 minutes that Tottenham would be my next team.'
Spurs finished just two points above the relegation zone last season and kick-start their 2026-27 Premier League campaign against Brentford. Arsenal, meanwhile, begin their title defence against newly-promoted Coventry City next Friday night.
