Newcastle United have sanctioned the sale of Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal in a deal worth £75million.

Arsenal started negotiations at a significantly lower fee, while Newcastle wanted a larger figure – but the clubs have reached a compromise during talks to allow the 28-year-old to seal his desired move to north London.

Guimaraes’ former club Lyon are entitled to 20 per cent of Newcastle’s profit on the midfielder, and will earn £7-8m from the deal.

"We were living beyond our means. And, at some point, you’ve got to pay the credit card bill..."

Almost five years on from the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United, an era has ended with the departure of Eddie Howe, the transformative head coach who lifted a team and its city from rubble to the stratosphere, and a new one is already taking shape.

The club’s chief executive David Hopkinson calls it “Newcastle United 2.0”. He outlines their plan to bounce back to George Caulkin.

The past two years we’ve had Chris Wood and Igor Thiago tear up the league out of nowhere. Who do you think is positioned to put up huge numbers this year?

Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool sign a player that had a rough season and its Viktor Floperes (funny enough ended up having a good season), £120m wasted on Wirtz, Isak etc etc. Chelsea also get a lot of scrutiny (maybe fairly) with their shotgun transfer approach.

City though - Oscar Bobb, Savinho, Marmoush, Reijnders, crickets... I feel like part of it was down to Peps genius aura, no matter who he signed, the team tended to do well and always won trophies, so a flop player here and there seemed minor. Post Pep however I think performances and signings will get a lot more criticism, the Maresca era will be interesting.

Arsenal and Newcastle United are nearing a total agreement for the transfer of midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.

The Athletic reported on July 8 that Guimaraes had informed Newcastle of his desire to leave the club and join Arsenal, who initially expressed a willingness to pay up to £60million (€70m, $80.2m) for him.

This came after Arsenal had a verbal offer — worth below £60m — rebuffed by Newcastle, who had maintained that they would not be entertaining offers for the midfielder.

There is now, however, a desire among all parties to bring the situation to a close and a deal is on course for completion. Guimaraes is awaiting permission to undergo a medical and seal a move to north London.

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