Arsenal agree £75m fee with Newcastle for Bruno Guimaraes

Breaking news for you.Arsenal have agreed a £75m fee with Newcastle for their captain Bruno Gimaraes.The Newcastle captain has been given permission to travel for a medical.Gimaraes told Newcastle bosses earlier this summer that he wanted to join Arsenal if a suitable offer arrived and it seems that suitable offer has come in.It is £75 million.That is the fee that has been agreed with Newcastle.

for Bruno Gimaraes to become an Arsenal player.John, your reaction to this news?

the impact that this has on Newcastle losing their talisman you know Bruno has been the best player in Newcastle first since he's been there really you know hit the ground running been massive and then from a player's perspective this is it shows his and we talk about ambition with Salah this shows ambition Arsenal are a club who are Obviously won the league last year, just missed out on the Champions League.They want silverware, and they've backed Arteta, and Arteta must be very, very happy with this, and Bruno must be thinking, I've got a chance of a Premier League medal, maybe a Champions League medal with Arsenal.

We'll get onto the Newcastle side of things in just a moment, but let's just continue going down the Arsenal theme.I'm interested there by what you said, you know, you said this is a big, big signing.Some people are sort of looking at it and going, well, why aren't they going for, you know, Vinnie Junior or going for a left winger, a big left winger, Barker, et cetera, first?But in your opinion, does this signing take Arsenal to the next level?

I think it creates, if you look at their midfield now, And we can talk about Manchester City who are arguably their biggest rivals for the for the Premier League the bookies would would argue that probably With Anderson and Rodri and jerky and and the talent that Man City have got now with With rice and and Bruno alongside him.They really do have a class midfield and and the depth now We saw last season, we saw in the World Cup with Declan Rice.He was absolutely shocked playing all the games that he did.Now the manager has the option, does he play them together?Does he play them on his own?Does he rest Rice?

Rice has been obviously magnificent for Arsenal since he signed.An awful lot of money, but he lived up to the hype, you know?And he ultimately made the difference for them winning the Premier League.So I think it's a big signing for Arsenal.

Chris, how will this affect the Arsenal midfield going forward, do you think?And how Arteta juggles all of his resources?

I mean, Arsenal's spine now is just ridiculous, isn't it?You talk about the depth they've got.Miles Lewis -Skelly, at the end of last season, was playing fantastically well.Started a Champions League final.Zoubamendi, just, you know, another World Cup now on his resume.Dropped off towards the end of last season, but I think the rest that he would have had will mean that he's raring to go.

So now you've got, who can play in the 10, Odegaard and Eze, unbelievable players.You've got the two first choice now of Gimaraes and Rice.Imagine lining up against them to your next season.That is a world -class midfield.And to back up, you've got Lewis Skelly and Zouba Mendy.If Arsenal weren't favourites for the title already, which I think they were, by the way, they 100 % are now.

And if they can add that left winger, which just seems like the last piece of the puzzle, if they can add that star quality, that goal scorer, that creator, it's bad news for the rest of the Premier League, I think, because the depth is just unbelievable.

John, what do you think about the fee?Because we were hearing that it might...something north of £80 million, but it seems that it could be a fee of £75 million.Is that a good deal for Arsenal?How is it for Newcastle?

I think it is. I think if you look at Anderson, and I think if you look at Rice, who we just mentioned, north of £100 million, to get a player who's arguably, certainly has a reputation, Premier League proven for many, many years, a true leader.So it adds an awful lot for £75 million.It's an awful lot of money.But in today's transfer, this transfer market is crazy.So for £75 million, I think it's good business.

It's almost like a few weeks ago, you would have said, this is fair.But now because of the last few weeks that we've had, like you said, with Anderson, with Mateus Fernandes, with Morgan Rodgers, you're going anything under 100 million actually looks quite good value.Like I said, before the World Cup, you go 75 million.I mean, he's older though, isn't he?He's 29.That is true.

And Tonali is another one who went for 100 million as well, also younger.But this is Arsenal's strategy actually at the moment.They want to win now.They have been signing younger players, but you look at a lot of their business recently.Last season, Gokharez is someone to come in now.Bruno Guimaraes, he's not going to need any time to settle in.

This is one of the Premier League's most consistent midfielders.And Arsenal are willing to...They're not going to make money on Bruno Guimaraes, but he might get them closer to the Champions League.He might help them retain the Premier League.He's going to be a good pivot with Rice.He's going to be someone who can let Rice rest.

So, yeah, Arsenal aren't looking towards the future.They're looking at tomorrow.Right, what about from Newcastle's point of view then?

How much of a blow is this?Because it's not just another big player, it's your club captain, it's a player who's got an amazing connection with the fans.Do you think this one will hurt even more than Gordon and Tonali?

It's a massive blow.It's a massive blow for Newcastle.It's the equivalent of a Rice leaving Arsenal.It's the equivalent of a Bruno Fernandes leaving Manchester United.That's how big it is for Newcastle.And obviously, you've got to add the fact that they've lost the manager.

They've lost Tonali as well.So they've lost arguably the two best players, certainly the two best midfield players.They have raised an awful lot of money.They haven't been particularly active in the transfer market so far.So they do have a Warchest to go and replace him.So I think it's, I think there'll be a lot of agents knocking on the door of Newcastle knowing how much money they now have to spend and how much they need it.

Well, at Newcastle, clearly there are some financial restraints and we know it's very hard for them to compete with clubs that have bigger revenue.It's almost impossible.But I just wonder whether they had to let go of so many big players at the same time, because there's a lot of money coming in here now, but doing it all in one transfer window, those three big players, are you really concerned that that's just too much to lose in one go?Could it have been staggered in some way?Potentially.

I think with Bruno leaving, I think that You know, Eddie Howe isn't daft.He understood what was going on.He understood the restrictions that he had as a manager.And I think that's fed into the players.I think they've kept hold of some important players.But it is a big hole that they have to fill.

And I am a little bit worried.They have a lot of quality.They still have a lot of quality going forward.But that midfield area is a massive concern because those guys were literally the engine room and Bruno was Newcastle United.

All right.A reminder of the big breaking news.Arsenal have agreedfee of £75m with Newcastle for Bruno Gimaraes and it's been agreed by Newcastle that he can travel and have his medical.A lot more on that to come.Arsenal have got their midfielder.

Manchester United have also brought in two this summer.We are talking United's transfer business with John next.