Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson has broken the club's silence on Arsenal's £75m deal for Bruno Guimaraes
Newcastle United transfer chief David Hopkinson (R) has addressed Bruno Guimaraes' transfer fee.
Newcastle United transfer chief David Hopkinson (R) has addressed Bruno Guimaraes' transfer fee.(Image: (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images))
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Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson has admitted the Magpies wanted a higher transfer fee for Bruno Guimaraes from Arsenal after accepting a £75m bid. The Brazilian is expected to be confirmed as a new signing at the Emirates in the coming days, with Newcastle fans unhappy about the fee their received from the Gunners.
Arsenal spent six weeks engaged in discussions through intermediaries and agents before formally submitting two offers, with the initial bid being turned down. Initial verbal talks began at a modest £45million for the Brazilian midfielder before a £75m agreement which will be settled in two instalments.
Speaking to Chronicle Live during Newcastle's summer tour in La Manga, 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."
There had been some speculation suggesting that Newcastle would demand a fee in the region of £100m, given the size of transfer fees paid for Sandro Tonali, Morgan Rogers and Elliot Anderson so far this summer.
Arsenal were able to negotiate way under that asking price, a further £10m under the widely negotiated £85m asking price.
What looks like a brilliant deal for Mikel Arteta's side, looks less so for Newcastle, who have to pay Lyon £7m as part of a sell-on clause.
Nevertheless, Hopkinson believes the Magpies have managed to get a 'good deal' for Guimaraes this summer.
"It's a fee that satisfies us," he added. "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 United? 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."
Bruno Guimaraes points
Bruno Guimaraes will join Arsenal(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
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Newcastle sporting director Ross Wilson has also addressed Guimaraes' departure, stating nobody at St. James' Park wanted to sell their captain this summer.
Addressing Bruno's departure, Wilson commented: "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.
"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 point 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."
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