Newcastle have accepted an offer of £75million from Arsenal for captain Bruno Guimaraes, according to widespread reports this morning.
The Brazil international has been agitating for a move to North London for some time and will now leave Newcastle’s pre-season training camp in La Manga to sign for the Gunners.
The deal had been dragging on for several weeks with Arsenal’s initial bid of under £60m rejected by Newcastle who maintained they did not want to sell the 28-year-old.
But the two sides remained at the negotiating table with Newcastle keen not to repeat the mistakes of last summer when they tried to retain striker Alexander Isak only to sell him late in the window to Liverpool and struggle to find suitable replacements.
Guimaraes joined Newcastle in January 2022 for a fee in the region of £42m and has made 153 Premier League appearances, scoring 30 goals and adding 26 assists. His former club Lyon are due 20 per cent of the profit Newcastle will make on the player.
Worrying summer for Newcastle
His exit is another blow to Newcastle who have lost fellow key players Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali this summer. Gordon went to Barcelona while Tonali opted to join Tottenham for combined fees in the region of £170m.
In their stead, the Tyneside club have recruited several young players after reforming their transfer model.
On Monday, they announced their fifth signing of the summer with the arrival of Czech goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek.
Hornicek is the second goalkeeper to be recruited, following Ewen Jaouen through the door.
Newcastle have also signed Bazoumana Touré, Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba since the end of last season following a disappointing 12th-placed finish in the Premier League.
There has also been a change in the dugout with Eddie Howe leaving the club. Matthias Jaissle is his replacement and has been in Spain conducting training this week, even though the club have yet to formally announce his arrival from Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Ahli.
Guimaraes deal a welcome boost for Arsenal
While it has been a concerning summer for Newcastle, Arsenal have made quiet progress to improve a squad that clinched the Premier League title last season.
Piero Hincapie has made his loan move from Bayer Leverkusen permanent while Greece winger Christos Tzolis joined from Club Brugge to replace the departed Leandro Trossard. Arsenal have also snapped up free agent goalkeeper Illan Meslier.
Arsenal are still in the market for a marquee arrival with boss Mikel Arteta admitting they are looking to be ambitious this summer. They are reported to have sounded out the representatives of Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr, who has less than 12 months left on his deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, although the smart money is on the Brazilian signing a bumper new deal in the Spanish capital.
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