Arsenal set to announce Bruno Guimaraes deal after medical as contract details revealed | OneFootball

Gunners are waiting for a final decision from Vinicius Jr on Real Madrid future

Arsenal look poised to announce the signing of Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle soon.

The Gunners agreed a deal for the Brazil midfielder earlier this week worth around £75million that could rise as high as £80m.

Guimaraes was expected to make a swift exit from Newcastle’s pre-season training camp in Spain - where he arrived from Brazil on Monday following a post-World Cup holiday - in order to return to the UK and undergo a medical.

Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano reports that medical was passed successfully on Thursday, with official confirmation of the transfer expected “soon”.

He added that long-term target Guimaraes had agreed a four-year contract with Arsenal to run until the summer of 2030 and had already held talks with new manager Mikel Arteta, who refused to comment on the saga following Wednesday night’s 3-1 friendly defeat by Real Betis in Dublin.

“I'm not going to talk about any players who aren't Arsenal players,” Arteta replied when asked how much of a boost the signing of Guimaraes would be to his squad.

Asked again about the boost delivered by the signing of such a top player, he said: “Well, I can tell you at the moment that something happens and we can announce it. I will give you my straight answer.”

Guimaraes will become Arsenal’s fourth signing of the summer transfer window so far, following the £34m arrival of Greek winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge and the free addition of goalkeeper Illan Meslier after his exit from Leeds.

The Gunners also triggered their option to convert versatile Ecuador defender Piero Hincapie’s loan move from Bayer Leverkusen into a permanent deal for a fee of around £34.5m.

The reigning Premier League champions are ready to move for Guimaraes’ superstar Brazil team-mate in what would surely be the most ambitious transfer swoop in club history, with Vinicius Jr having now entered the final 12 months of his contract at the Bernabeu.

However, crunch contract talks between Madrid and the player’s representatives on Wednesday are said to have gone well, with the LaLiga giants and head coach Jose Mourinho now said to be confident that he will sign a bumper extension to stay.

Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori said after the loss to Betis that the club needed players like Vinicius Jr and Guimaraes in order to improve on last season’s title success.

“We are on that level now. We are on top,” the Italian defender told reporters in Dublin.

“We want to win the league again and we want to be even better than last season if we can. We need these kind of players, I think."

On Guimaraes, Calafiori said: “Is it official yet?”