Newcastle United may have secured a substantial fee for Bruno Guimaraes, but new reports suggest people from the Magpies organization believe NUFC didn’t actually come out as the winners of the summer-long saga.
According to The Athletic, Newcastle’s hierarchy has accepted the club did not get its preferred result even after agreeing to sell the Brazil international to Arsenal for a guaranteed £75 million.
“Senior figures at Newcastle accept that Guimaraes leaving and the price they have got for him
was not their preferred outcome,” The Athletic wrote. “But in this context, the timing and fee are a ‘good outcome’.”
The Athletic, however, stopped well short of describing the deal as a success.
“Was this a capitulation? No. Was this a rational, necessary decision to conclude negotiations early so they did not repeat the mistakes of last summer? Perhaps,” The Athletic wrote. “But a good deal? That feels like a stretch, given how strong Newcastle’s stance had been.”
The Athletic notes that Newcastle had publicly insisted throughout much of the summer that Guimaraes was not for sale and repeatedly pointed to figures around the £100 million mark. It also points out Lyon will receive around £6-7 million through a 20 percent sell-on clause, reducing the amount Newcastle ultimately keeps from the transfer.
The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has also revealed Arsenal believes it negotiated a bargain deal with Newcastle. According to Edwards, per Chronicle Live’s Aaron Morris, the Gunners feel they “saved £25 million” thanks to negotiating the transfer through super agent Kia Joorabchian.
“Andrea Berta’s club believe that they have saved £25m on Guimaraes’ initial valuation of £100m (by Newcastle), given they are set to fork out a flat guaranteed fee of £75m for the transfer – no add-on clauses included,” Morris wrote.
Whether Newcastle genuinely expected to receive £100 million or used that figure as a negotiating tactic remains unclear, but it’s true that it got floated at times during the past few weeks, placing Bruno’s value on par with the fee Tottenham paid for Sandro Tonali. However, both reports agree the Magpies ultimately accepted less than their original public valuation to bring one of the summer’s longest-running transfer sagas to an end.
The focus now shifts toward replacing their former captain, with several midfielders already linked as Matthias Jaissle prepares for his first season at St. James’ Park.
Looking back now that the deal is effectively done, do you think Newcastle made the right decision by accepting £75 million for Bruno Guimaraes, or should the club have held firm for more? Share your thoughts in the Coming Home Newcastle comments section below.
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account at Coming Home Newcastle and get:
- Create community posts on The Feed for everyone to read
- Comment on all articles and community posts
- Rec comments and community posts
- Enjoy a new, improved notifications system
- Fewer ads
