Newcastle have publicly insisted Bruno Guimaraes is not for sale.
They are astonished that the Brazilian has told them he wants to leave without Arsenal having made a formal offer.
Broad personal terms are already in place between Arsenal and Guimaraes, but Newcastle maintain their captain is not for sale.
💰 Bruno Guimaraes is turning 29 in November and has TWO years left on his contract… How much should Arsenal pay to sign him?
But one Newcastle insider has a very different take on what might actually be happening behind the scenes.
Pete Graves reveals what he has heard about Newcastle selling Bruno Guimaraes
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk podcast, reporter and Newcastle fan Pete Graves offered a fascinating theory on the situation.
“I’ve got a different insight on this,” he said. “Ahead of the summit at Maften Hall, when Eddie Howe was under huge, huge pressure — they had this big summit on the Thursday.
“Yasir Al-Rumayyan flew in from Saudi Arabia, board members were there, David Hopkinson, Ross Wilson. They had this big meeting — which way are we gonna go?
“I was told that some pretty outlandish plans were made in that summit. This is, bear in mind, a team that at that point were in the relegation battle.
“I just wonder whether this is all part of the plan. They’ve gone, you know what? We’re gonna rip it up and we’re gonna start again.
“And they’ve gone ‘we can sell him, sell him, sell him.’ We can build this war chest, and we can just blast in a load, target young players, do this, and we can start again another go.
“If it doesn’t work, you know what, we gave it a go. Because that team was a long, long way away.”
If accurate, that would be quite something. Newcastle spent years building around a core of top-level players on top of Guimaraes, including Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon, and Sandro Tonali.
Those last three are already gone. Now Bruno could be next.
Arsenal are in a very strong position if Newcastle’s plan was always to sell
If Graves is right, and the Newcastle hierarchy did produce a plan to cash in and rebuild, their public stance that Guimaraes is not for sale may well be a negotiating play.
They have already done incredibly well to get £170million for Tonali and Gordon, and that could rise to the £250million mark should Arsenal sign the Brazilian.
Besides, there must be good reason why the Gunners are confident of signing him. The agents in the player’s camp — including Kia Joorabchian — are also pushing the wheels in motion, and they must know the club’s stance.
With Guimaraes also having made his desire to leave clear, the pieces are falling into place.
But the price won’t be cheap. Manchester United’s £50million deal for Andrey Santos gives Newcastle even more leverage, given where the two stand in Brazil’s national team.
But if Graves’ theory holds, Newcastle may be more open to selling than they are letting on. Arsenal just need to make the call.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
