Bruno Guimaraes\u2019 move from Newcastle United to Arsenal raises the usual question that follows a new signing: which shirt number will he take? For most players, it is a practical choice. For some, it carries real weight. For Guimaraes, there appears to be only one option.<\/p>\n
Back in 2023, the Brazilian midfielder explained to The Players’ Tribune why No. 39 means so much to him. \u201cThe number tells a story more beautiful than words can say,\u201d he said. \u201cI know people think it\u2019s a weird number for a footballer. But for me 39 is special\u2014no, it\u2019s more than that. It\u2019s magical. The No. 39 gave me everything in life. … It fed me, clothed me and paid for three-hour bus rides to pursue my dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The reason is deeply personal. As Guimar\u00e3es revealed, #039 was the dispatch number for his father\u2019s taxi cab in Rio de Janeiro. His father\u2019s work shaped the midfielder\u2019s childhood, with long days spent driving through the city and rare moments of release reserved for watching his son play on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Guimar\u00e3es\u2019 path to the top was not simple. At one stage, he was so unsure of his future that he obtained a driver\u2019s license in case he followed the family trade. His turning point came with a loan move to Athletico Paranaense in 2017, when his father called and urged him toward the same number. \u201cWhat about 39? That is more than a number. 039 gave us everything we have, Bruno. Our house, our food, our furniture, your football boots. It was all because of our taxi.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was already due to wear 39 when he arrived, and the number was handed to him by chance. He and his father both broke down in tears.<\/p>\n
Since then, he has carried those digits at Lyon and Newcastle, and even tattooed them on his right calf. Arsenal do not currently have anyone wearing the shirt, which clears the way for Guimar\u00e3es to continue with the number that has followed him throughout his career.<\/p>\n
There is history there too. Francis Coquelin wore No. 39 on his Premier League debut, while H\u00e9ctor Beller\u00edn also spent time with it during his Arsenal career. More recently, academy midfielder Harrison Dudziak briefly held the number before being released over the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bruno Guimaraes\u2019 attachment to No. 39 could make the Arsenal shirt choice straightforward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}