The noise around the Bruno Guimaraes situation had died down a bit over the past week or so. After it emerged that the Newcastle United midfielder had agreed personal terms with Arsenal, there did not seem to be much movement on the matter.
It was never going to go away quietly though. And as expected, it has not. On the contrary, it looks like Arsenal have finally made their move.
Obviously, Newcastle United won’t want to lose one of their most important players, having already seen Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon leave this summer. That being said, in modern football, it is almost impossible to keep a player around if they do not want to stay. So, a lot of the time, the best you can hope for is to bring in as big of a transfer fee as possible.
According to The Times, Arsenal have opened talks with Newcastle United to sign Guimaraes. The Brazilian midfielder wants a move to the Premier League champions and the deal could cost the club £75 million.
Bruno Guimaraes exit feels inevitable
To be very honest, when things reach a point where a player has agreed personal terms, more often than not, it ends with a transfer going through.
It is worth mentioning that Arsenal also lost out on arguably their top target of the summer, as Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea. That could further solidify their interest in Guimaraes, in case they had any second thoughts.
All of this combined means that it feels pretty likely that Guimaraes could end up leaving Newcastle United this summer, especially when it is the Premier League champions trying to sign him.
This has the potential to drag on though. Fortunately, Newcastle United should not be under any financial strain following the big-money exits of Tonali and Gordon. That should allow them the flexibility to try and get as much of a transfer fee as possible out of this.
Newcastle United will need a replacement
Newcastle United have signed one midfielder this summer. That is Sean Steur, the 18-year-old wonderkid brought in from Ajax. But it is safe to say that it won’t be enough.
You simply cannot take out Tonali and Guimaraes from a squad and hope that Steur will fill the void. A lot more help is needed. At least a couple of ready-made midfielders, if the Brazilian does indeed depart.
It had looked like Newcastle United were on the verge of signing Johan Manzambi, as a deal was even agreed with SC Freiburg. But it fell apart after he chose a move to Aston Villa instead.
It will be very interesting to see how Newcastle United go about rebuilding their midfield this summer. Players like Danilo, Ederson and more recently, Gabriel Sara, have been linked with the Magpies.
