Newcastle United’s summer rebuild entered a very uncomfortable phase when Bruno Guimaraes declared his love for Arsenal as the Magpies try to accelerate incoming transfers.
According to The i Paper’s Mark Douglas, Newcastle is treating the Bruno situation as driven by agents rather than a direct club-to-club push, and not worrying that much about it.
Newcastle has already sold Anthony Gordon to Barcelona and Tonali to Tottenham, moves that helped with financial rules and created spending power for
a wider squad overhaul, but Douglas reported that losing Bruno would be different because of his dressing room presence and importance to Howe’s system.
“The rebuild would be undermined by the departure of Guimaraes, who is a crucial part of the dressing room dynamic,” Douglas wrote.
Against that backdrop, Newcastle pushed harder than ever for a deal for Freiburg midfielder Johan Manzambi but ultimately got it hijacked by Aston Villa, while Ajax teenager Sean Steur arrived in Tyneside earlier this month.
According to Douglas, the Magpies are still interested in Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara and still see Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford as a possibility, with those two making for a couple of prospective arrivals amid a star fire sale in Tyneside.
