Newcastle have effectively confirmed Bruno Guimaraes’ move to Arsenal, with an official transfer announcement imminent. The transfer saga of the summer was closed this week after the Gunners and Newcastle finally opened club-to-club talks before agreeing a fee for the Brazil international. It is understood that the deal is worth around £75million that could rise as high as £80m, making Guimaraes the third arrival at the Emirates Stadium this summer after Illan Meslier and Christos Tzolis.
While the transfer is yet to be announced by either club, Newcastle chief executive David Hopkinson has suggested Arsenal had hoped to pay a smaller fee for the 28-year-old. "You're dealing with very sophisticated actors on each side," he said. "That's what negotiation looks like. "It's a fee that satisfies us. If you want to put a merchandising spin on it, it's the highest fee for a player in that position at that age, and all those things come into play.” All but confirming the deal is done, Hopkinson revealed what type of player Arsenal are signing. He added: "Is it a good deal for Newcastle United? I believe it is, but Arsenal are getting a very special player and person. “It's worked from a financial perspective for both sides."
Newcastle United sporting director, Ross Wilson, admits the club had not planned to sell Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal this summer. Newcastle sporting Director Ross Wilson has explained why the club decided to let go of the Brazilian. He said: “We didn’t want to sell Bruno. It wasn’t in the plan to sell Bruno. None of us — or ownership — wanted to sell Bruno. “He’s our captain, he was very, very important to us and the debate over his price — it’s a world-record fee for a player of his age. “What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on. “That doesn’t mean he can go but it certainly plays a part in what our thinking is when we hit a certain range of number. But there’s no part in saying it was part of our strategy and was in our thinking this summer — it wasn’t. “But we have got to be flexible and react to things that happen. It might have been in our plan to sign one player but we didn’t get him so we move on to another. We can only be honest about that.”
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