Evra and Makelele Back Arsenal's Midfield Vision

Two of France’s great midfield generals see the same thing when they look at Arsenal: a team built for Champions League nights and title runs, and a midfield that could soon carry an even heavier Brazilian and French accent.

Patrice Evra, a Manchester United legend and long-time Premier League standard-bearer, has thrown his weight behind a move that would take Manu Kone to north London. Not to Old Trafford. To Arsenal.

Evra, speaking to Stake, did not bother with half-measures when assessing the Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder’s suitability for English football. He went straight to the heart of what the league demands.

He highlighted Kone’s energy, his ball-carrying, his appetite for duels and his work for the team — the raw materials that separate midfielders who survive in England from those who thrive. For Evra, those traits are non‑negotiable in a division where, as he put it, the pace gives players no time to breathe and adaptation becomes everything. His message was clear: if Kone lands in the Premier League, patience will be required. Do not write the verdict after five games.

In Evra’s eyes, Arsenal under Mikel Arteta would be an ideal landing spot, provided the manager uses him correctly. The tools are there, Evra argued. What comes next is consistency.

Arsenal’s main target: Bruno Guimaraes

Yet while Evra beats the drum for Kone, Arsenal’s recruitment radar is locked more firmly on another midfielder: Bruno Guimaraes of Newcastle United.

The Premier League champions are prioritising a move for the Brazil international, with reports indicating that personal terms have already been agreed. It is a bold play, and it has drawn applause from another iconic French midfielder, Claude Makelele.

Makelele, speaking to ComeOn, framed Guimaraes as a player whose ambitions are perfectly aligned with Arsenal’s current status. He described the Brazilian as someone who sees his career through a single lens: regular Champions League football and squads constructed to win major honours in Europe.

From Makelele’s perspective, Arsenal now match that vision. He pointed to their Premier League title, their deep run in the Champions League, and a squad built to challenge again. For a player of Guimaraes’ calibre, he argued, joining a club with that profile is simply the right step.

Makelele did not hold back in his assessment of Guimaraes’ quality either, calling him a very good, even exceptional, player and referencing his performances with Brazil as proof. The decision, he stressed, ultimately rests with the player, but stylistically, he sees a seamless fit between Guimaraes’ game and Arteta’s Arsenal.

Between Evra’s backing of Kone and Makelele’s endorsement of Guimaraes, one theme stands out: elite midfielders, in the eyes of elite ex-midfielders, now view Arsenal as a natural home for players who want to live permanently at the sharp end of European football.