Arsenal are ready to table an official bid for Bruno Guimaraes worth £70m, and two separate sources have detailed what response they’ll get from Newcastle.
Guimaraes, 28, is the man Arsenal have identified as the perfect player to strengthen their midfield. Two bids have already been made, though neither were made in an official capacity.
£55m was put forward on a verbal basis, followed by £65m through intermediaries and agents. Predictably, both were given short shrift by Newcastle who thus far, are insisting they don’t want to sell.
However, reporter Ben Jacobs recently claimed Arsenal were primed to raise the stakes by lodging a third bid worth at least £70m.
That would come close to the figure the Daily Mail previously suggested could get Newcastle’s green light, which is £75m.
And on Thursday evening, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano not only reaffirmed Arsenal have a full agreement on personal terms with Guimaraes sealed, but also stressed the anticipated third bid – worth exactly £70m – is imminent.
Arsenal to bid £70m for Bruno Guimaraes
“Arsenal are ready to send a new bid for Bruno Guimaraes,” declared Romano on his YouTube channel. “Arsenal are ready, they want to go for Bruno, and have a full agreement in place with Guimaraes on personal terms.
“The contract is done, Bruno said yes to Arsenal project, but Bruno wants to be respectful with Newcastle and doesn’t want to break the relationship, but he wants to go, he’s made that clear to Newcastle that his desire is to go.
“On the other side, Newcastle maintain that they don’t want to sell, so it has to be a very good proposal to change their mind, otherwise they insist on keeping Bruno.
“Arsenal will bid again, and the expectation of those taking care of the deal is for Arsenal to present a new bid after getting to £55m plus £10m in add-ons rejected by Newcastle, this was a verbal proposal.”
READ NEXT: Arsenal regain title, Spurs less s***, and other Premier League assumptions that might be wrong
Newcastle expected to reject new bid
Romano continued: “Now Arsenal are expected to get to £70m for Bruno Guimaraes. £70m is still probably not enough to convince Newcastle, but it will be a way to get closer.
“So Arsenal hope to close the deal for slightly over £70m. They have no intention of overpaying.”
Romano went on to note Arsenal are not going to bid “something completely crazy” out of desperation to get this deal done.
He then concluded by insisting that behind the scenes, Mikel Arteta is “pushing like crazy” to complete the coup.
As Romano mentioned, £70m is NOT expected to get approval from Newcastle. The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder is of the same view, though he put his information on that subject forward in a much more forceful manner.
Reporting on X, Ryder stated: ‘#NUFC sources indicating Bruno Guimaraes sale at fee of around £70m a “non-starter”.
‘Stance remains the same, Newcastle do not want to sell. Bruno expected to report back for La Manga training camp.
‘Looks like #arsenal will have to come up with something sensational for Newcastle to even think about it.’
DON’T MISS: Transfer rumour ranking: Another snub for Newcastle, Liverpool creeping towards Barcola
