Newcastle United is entering a decisive week over Bruno Guimaraes’s future as Arsenal prepares to intensify its pursuit of the club captain before his scheduled return to preseason training with the Magpies.
TEAMtalk’s Graeme Bailey reports Guimaraes wants his future settled within the next week and before he’s forced to join NUFC in La Manga, while Arsenal has made direct contact with Newcastle and remains confident a transfer can be completed.
“We can confirm there has been club-to-club contact over
a potential deal in recent days, and sources confirm things are moving forward with the Gunners remaining confident a deal will be done,” Bailey reported. “Personal terms are not expected to present any issues, and indeed we are told they were agreed in principle weeks ago, with Guimaraes keen on a move to the Emirates Stadium.”
TalkSPORT similarly reports Arsenal is ready to accelerate negotiations and believes it has already made three verbal proposals. Newcastle, however, maintains that no formal written offer has arrived. As the outlet puts it, the offers are there and the conflicting reports from the Gunners and the Magpies camps are just “down to semantics.”
That position was reinforced by the Chronicle Live’s Lee Ryder after claims emerged that Arsenal had submitted an £80 million bid plus add-ons, which Ryder refuted swiftly.
“Just before the close of play, social media suggestions of an increased offer of £80m plus add ons emerged on X, but Chronicle Live was told such a bid was false,” Ryder reported. “High-placed sources at the Arsenal end claimed the Gunners would not go close to £80m for the player.”
The disagreement appears to center on whether verbal approaches made through intermediaries constitute formal bids. Arsenal believes negotiations are advancing, while Newcastle continues to insist nothing concrete has been placed before the club. If all this is lacking is a printed sheet of paper, then it looks like it’s just a matter of time for Arsenal to send the fax and bring this saga to an end.
TEAMtalk confirmed that Guimaraes has no intention of refusing to return to Newcastle to train with the team, but his representatives are pushing Arsenal to act decisively before he rejoins Eddie Howe’s squad on July 31, mostly to avoid an awkward situation in which Bruno arrives at camp knowing he’ll eventually depart, with the unease that could bring to all parties involved.
Newcastle, meanwhile, expects its captain to travel to the La Manga training camp and remains unwilling to sell for the widely reported £80-70 million figures.
With Arsenal apparently ready to step up talks with a formal £80 million offer, the coming days should determine whether the standoff finally develops into formal negotiations and if Bruno stays and goes heading into August.
