Arsenal To Sign Newcastle Captain Bruno Guimarães

Arsenal is set to sign Newcastle Captain Bruno Guimarães.

NewsRain Nigeria reports that Arsenal have agreed a £75m fee with Newcastle for their captain Bruno Guimaraes.

He has been permitted to travel for a medical.

Guimaraes told Newcastle bosses earlier this summer that he wanted to join Arsenal if a suitable offer arrived.

Arsenal’s opening bid was rejected, but the 28-year-old now looks set to join the Premier League champions.

Guimaraes, who joined the Magpies in 2022 from Lyon for £40m, has made 195 appearances for Newcastle, scoring 31 goals.

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Newcastle had been keen to ensure Guimaraes, who has two years left on his contract plus a club-held option for a third, remained at the club, but if this deal goes through as expected, they will have made more than £240m from player sales this summer.

Anthony Gordon joined Barcelona in a £69.3m deal and Spurs signed Sandro Tonali for £100m, while manager Eddie Howe also departed in what has been a turbulent summer at St James’ Park.

Newcastle were desperate to keep Bruno Guimaraes, and if he had said he wanted to stay, Newcastle would have refused any offer from Arsenal or any other club.

Attempts to persuade Guimaraes otherwise were made and positive conversations were held, but he was insistent he wanted to leave because he felt this was his last big opportunity to win titles.

The deal could only go ahead if two things happened: Guimaraes said he wanted to leave (which he has respectfully), and Newcastle sold on their terms, similar to Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon.

Newcastle insisted it was their valuation or no deal. They would only sell Guimaraes at a fee that would become one of the highest paid for a player aged 28 or over.

In addition, a deal would only be sanctioned if the situation was handled properly – for example, Guimaraes attending Newcastle’s training camp in Spain, which he reported to on Monday.

Newcastle feel Guimaraes has complied with their demands immaculately. They did not want a repeat of the Alexander Isak situation, where he refused to train before joining Liverpool last summer.

Agents were in between the clubs from the outset, but Newcastle refused all pushes, which had begun with mentions of a deal worth £40-£45m in June.

Newcastle were left frustrated because they felt Arsenal elongated the transfer by refusing to contact them for weeks.

Newcastle insist there have been no fallouts and good relations remain between player and club.
This is a statement signing for Arsenal.

Guimaraes is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League, if not the world, and from a position of strength, Arsenal have taken him from Newcastle.

Midfield is already an area of the pitch where Arsenal are strong, but Guimaraes’ arrival is certainly an upgrade, with Christian Norgaard set for a move to Everton.

Myles Lewis-Skelly was playing incredibly well at the end of last season and started the Champions League final. Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino are World Cup winners and, after some rest, will be ready to go.

There’s Martin Odegaard and Eberechi Eze in the No 10 position alongside the two potential starters in Declan Rice and Guimaraes.

The Brazilian gives Arteta even more options, and it also allows for the possibility for Declan Rice to get a breather in certain games after his exploits last season.

It’s a world-class midfield, and if Arsenal weren’t favourites for the title already, they are now.
It is easy to understand Arsenal’s interest in Guimaraes.

The Newcastle captain is one of the Premier League’s most complete midfielders, capable of dominating and destroying but also scoring and creating, with passing ability to match his physicality.

If the Gunners do secure his signature, he would be joining a group of midfielders which includes Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino and Myles Lewis-Skelly.