Arsenal have intensified their pursuit of Bruno Guimarães after officially opening transfer discussions and submitting an initial bid, which Newcastle promptly turned down.
Following his post-World Cup break in Brazil, Guimarães linked up with Newcastle’s incoming head coach, Matthias Jaissle, for their first face-to-face meeting on Monday during the squad’s pre-season retreat in La Manga.
Despite speculation indicating that the 28-year-old midfielder was scheduled to travel to London for an Arsenal medical, he instead caught a commercial flight bound for Spain.
Upon arriving in La Manga, the player was anticipated to inform Jaissle of his desire to leave Tyneside for north London, though any potential deal depends on Arsenal matching Newcastle’s price tag for a player who has two years left on his deal.
Although key decision-makers at Arsenal feel Guimarães is valued at no more than £70m—with an offer in that region getting knocked back on Monday—Newcastle rate their skipper closer to £80m.
While a middle ground might eventually be reached—since Arsenal, originally operating via representatives, have spent the majority of the summer chasing a midfielder prioritized by Mikel Arteta—Newcastle remain under zero financial compulsion to part ways with him.
In fact, having already sanctioned the departures of Anthony Gordon to Barcelona and Sandro Tonali to Tottenham during this window, Newcastle would much rather provide Jaissle with Guimarães’ quality and leadership as he reconstructs the team.
The 38-year-old coach was reportedly eager to gauge the Brazilian’s state of mind while kicking off preparations for their Premier League opener against Liverpool at home in two weeks. Even though the former Al‑Ahli and RB Salzburg manager has yet to be formally announced as Howe’s replacement, Jaissle has been embedded with the squad in southern Spain since Saturday, with Newcastle merely awaiting the finalizing of paperwork to announce his hiring official.
Meanwhile, Newcastle did finalize a transfer on Monday, securing goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek from Braga in a £26m deal. The 24-year-old Czech shot-stopper is slated to take over from Nick Pope as the starting goalkeeper, rendering Pope’s exit from St James’ Park increasingly probable.
Hornicek attracted Newcastle’s attention after recording seven clean sheets throughout Braga’s journey to the Europa League semi-finals last term. Standing at 6ft 6in, he presents a formidable presence between the posts and has earned plaudits for his exceptional distribution, which is expected to boost Newcastle’s capacity to build up from defense.
Hull had also aimed to sign Hornicek, but the goalkeeper rejected an offer from the newly promoted side last month.
