football.london dives into the backlash surrounding Arsenal's transfer pursuit of Bruno Guimaraes
Martin Odegaard and Bruno Guimaraes
Bruno Guimaraes is in the middle of a lengthy transfer saga amid interest from Arsenal(Image: Glyn KIRK / AFP via Getty Images)
View Image
The transfer saga surrounding Bruno Guimaraes has been a headache for many, with still no agreement found after several weeks of talks. Newcastle United are threatened to find themselves in a similar position to what they were with Alexander Isak last year, while Arsenal are losing precious time with a potential new arrival for pre-season, with less than three weeks until the start of the new campaign.
football.london have been following the story closely with the latest information that an official first offer has now been rejected. The club are believed to have offered a figure below the £80million threshold, which sources have suggested is where a breakthrough could be found.
Talks are set to continue, and despite Bruno Guimaraes now joining up with the group, it is expected he will reiterate his desire to leave. Some have questioned Arsenal’s methods in their chase for the Brazilian midfielder.
And so it begs the question, have Arsenal done anything wrong?
FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Well, the facts of the matter are that ‘direct contact’, which can be somewhat subjective depending on whose saying it, hadn’t ‘officially’ been made until this recent official bid that was rejected. football.london understands several verbal offers had been made, starting far lower, at around £45million.
These unofficial offers, or verbal offers, have been floated by intermediaries. Individuals who work effectively on the behalf of clubs to find out the parameters of potential transfers and also whether a player might have an interest, in some cases but not all, in joining a club.
Some might consider ‘direct talks’ more so than just ‘talks’ to be if an employee of Arsenal football club got in contact with Newcastle, whereas others might not consider an intermediary is working with or on behalf of a club.
Arsenal know the player is very keen to join them while not being a paramount signing like Declan Rice was in 2023 or a striker was in 2025. So they’ve been able to remain calm with pressure on Newcastle to come to a compromise and give themselves time to find a replacement.
The later the deal happens, and with financial restrictions very much a concern for Newcastle, were they to sign a big player and not bring in the money from the Guimaraes sale, this has been enough to give Arsenal composure in these discussions.
The clubs will continue discussions with hope of an agreement. But the player, the clubs and anyone in between is operating in ways seen countless times before in so many other transfers.
It seems that the emotion toward Arsenal, or the player or even Newcastle, is what has dictated much of the discourse around this story, as opposed to the facts of the matter.