Arsenal agree fee for Guimaraes

Arsenal have agreed a £75m fee with Newcastle for their captain Bruno Guimaraes.

He has been given permission to travel for a medical.

Guimaraes told Newcastle bosses earlier this summer that he wanted to join Arsenal if a suitable offer arrived.

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Arsenal's opening bid was rejected but the 28-year-old now looks set to join the Premier League champions.

Newcastle had been keen to ensure Guimaraes, who has two years left on his contract plus a club-held option for a third, cut if this deal goes through as expected, Newcastle will have made more than £240m from player sales this summer.

Anthony Gordon joined Barcelona in a £69.3m deal, while Spurs signed Sandro Tonali for £100m.

Newcastle were desperate to keep Guimaraes

Sky Sports News understands Arsenal elongated the Guimaraes deal by refusing to contact Newcastle for weeks, which they found bizarre.

Agents were in between the clubs from the outset but Newcastle refused all pushes, which began with mentions of £40-£45m in June.

Newcastle didn't want to sell, and were desperate to keep Guimaraes. If their captain had said he wanted to stay, the club would have refused any offer from Arsenal or any other club. However, he has been very respectfully clear that he definitely wanted to go and this was his last big opportunity to win titles.

Attempts to persuade him otherwise and positive conversations were held, but Guimaraes was insistent he wanted to leave.

The deal could only happen if he said he wanted to leave and Newcastle would only deal at a fee which would become one of the highest ever paid in the world for a player over 28 years old.

Arsenal, via agents, continually said they wouldn't get anywhere near to such numbers so Newcastle continued to refuse to sell. Newcastle insisted it was their valuation, or no deal - and only if Bruno said he wanted to go. The player would only go on Newcastle's terms, similar to Tonali and Gordon.

In addition, a deal would only be sanctioned if the transfer was handled respectfully; for example, after he attended training camp in Spain, Newcastle feel Bruno has complied with this immaculately. They did not want a repeat of the Alexander Isak situation where he refused to train. Newcastle insisted there have been no fallouts and great respect remains between player and club.

Where would Guimaraes fit in at Arsenal?

It is easy to understand Arsenal's interest in Guimaraes.

The Newcastle captain is one of the Premier League's most complete midfielders, capable of dominating and destroying but also scoring and creating, with passing ability to match his physicality.

If the Gunners do secure his signature, he would be joining a group of midfielders which includes Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino and Myles Lewis-Skelly. So where and how would he fit in?

Read Nick Wright's feature here.