Arsenal “need” players like Bruno Guimaraes and Vinicius Jr in order to build on their Premier League title success, says Riccardo Calafiori.
The Gunners are poised to announce the £75million signing of Guimaraes from Newcastle soon after he passed a medical on Thursday and agreed a four-year contract.
Arsenal fans hope that the Brazil midfielder will be joined in north London this summer by his international team-mate Vinicius Jr, for whom the champions are ready to launch a blockbuster move that would rank as the most ambitious in their history.
However, the latest reports suggest that Real Madrid and manager Jose Mourinho are now confident that their star forward will imminently agree a bumper extension to his contract that expires next summer after crunch talks held with representatives on Wednesday.
Vinicius Jr remaining at the Bernabeu would leave Arsenal searching for another star attacking signing before next month’s transfer deadline to follow the £34m arrival of Greek winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
And Calafiori believes that the calibre of players being targeted by and linked with Arsenal is both a sign of how far they have come in recent years and also a necessary development as they look to successfully defend their first Premier League title for 22 years this season.
“We are on that level now. We are on top,” left-back Calafiori told reporters in Dublin following Wednesday’s 3-1 friendly defeat by LaLiga side Real Betis at the Aviva Stadium, in which he played 62 minutes.
“We want to win the league again and we want to be even better than last season if we can. We need these kind of players, I think.”
Asked about the Guimaraes signing specifically, Calafiori teased: “Is it official yet?”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would not be drawn on the imminent arrival of Guimaraes during his own media duties that followed a concerning pre-season loss in Ireland, in which his side conceded three times in the first half.
“I'm not going to talk about any players who aren't Arsenal players,” he said in his post-match press conference.
Asked how much of a boost the signing of Guimaraes would be to his squad, Arteta responded: “Well, I can tell you at the moment that something happens and we can announce it. I will give you my straight answer.”
