Newcastle plot transfer splurge for Jaissle after pulling off coup to get £75m Bruno Guimaraes fee from Arsenal

NEWCASTLE believe they have pulled off a coup by securing £75million for 28-year-old Bruno Guimaraes. And the dosh Arsenal are coughing up for the Brazilian midfielder will give the green light for the club to bring in several new recruits for new boss Matthias Jaissle. The Brazilian will join Arsenal in a £75m deal Credit: Reuters He follows both Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon out of the Newcastle exit door Credit: Getty Club captain Guimaraes was in tears following an emotional goodbye at the club’s La Manga training camp on Tuesday before jetting off for his Gunners medical. While Toon were gutted to lose their talisman, following on from the recent sales of Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, they insist they have secured a “good deal”. Sign up for the Arsenal newsletter Thank you! CEO David Hopkinson said: “It was not the fee that I think Arsenal had hoped to pay and of course we would have liked an even higher number. “But I think you’re dealing with sophisticated actors on both sides and that’s what negotiation looks like. “It’s a fee that satisfies us. If you want to put a merchandising spin on it, it’s the highest fee for a player in that position at that age. “Is that a good deal for Newcastle? I believe it is. But Arsenal is getting a very special player and special person so this works from a financial perspective for both sides.” Sporting director Ross Wilson has already brought in five exciting new young guns for Jaissle as he leads the rebuild of the squad following Eddie Howe’s departure. And while he remains excited over the future, he admitted Guimaraes’ exit was not part of “the plan” this summer. Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK New Toon boss Matthias Jaissle is targeting a host of new signings Credit: Getty He said: “We didn’t want to sell Bruno. It wasn’t in the plan to sell Bruno. None of us – or ownership – wanted to sell Bruno. “He’s our captain, he was very, very important to us and the debate over his price – it’s a world record fee for a player of his age. The actual world record, however, is the £88.5million Real Madrid paid for Eden Hazard in 2019, with add-ons taking the deal towards £130million. Wilson continued: “What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on. “That doesn’t mean he can go but it certainly plays a part in what our thinking is when we hit a certain range of number. “But there’s no part in saying it was part of our strategy and was in our thinking this summer – it wasn’t. “But we have got to be flexible and react to things that happen. It might have been in our plan to sign one player but we didn’t get him so we move on to another. “We can only be honest about that. “We’d love Bruno Guimares to be in our squad this summer but I’m sure there are other clubs that have lost players that wish they were in their squads this season. “It’s the world we live in, we had to adapt, we had to react. “Having such an important player leave is disappointing but having a really important player who doesn’t want to play here anymore – for himself, he’s honest about that – it was the only decision we could make.” Both Saudi PIF officials and co-owner Jamie Reuben were in southern Spain on Thursday as new manager Jaissle met the media for the face time. With PIF officials present, and director Jamie Reuben, who jetted into southern Spain, there is great optimism that the transfer window can end on a high. During a summit at the Hotel Grand Hyatt La Manga Club, chiefs were updated on how the club’s SCR situation is now positive. More importantly, the Guimaraes cash gives them headroom to add to a depleted and young squad. Wilson added: “We want to strengthen the squad. Of course we want to add more. The support of the guys is there as well. “Matthias wants to assess what we have as well, which is obvious, he’s been doing that for some time now so he’s got a view on that already and we’re aligned on what we want to do.” Comment now