Romano torches misreporting on Guimaraes as full Arsenal, Newcastle truths disclosed | OneFootball

Fabrizio Romano has gone on the attack and seemingly exposed a series of false claims about Bruno Guimaraes and his potential transfer from Newcastle to Arsenal.

Guimaraes and his would-be transfer to north London is a saga that has produced an alarming number of claims, counter-claims, and counter-claims to those counter-claims this summer.

There are a handful of factors in this story that all sources agree on, such as Guimaraes wants to join Arsenal, and he’s already agreed personal terms.

However, much of the rest, such as when club-to-club talks opened, if a deal has already been agreed, a medical being booked for Monday etc etc, has drawn wildly contrasting updates from the various reporters covering this story.

Indeed, both ESPN Brasil and The Times claimed over the weekend that Newcastle and Arsenal had agreed a deal for Guimaraes’ transfer worth £80m (£70m plus £10m in add-ons).

The Times even went as far as claiming a medical had been booked for Monday (today).

However, several reporters who primarily cover Newcastle, such as Keith Downie (Sky Sports) and Luke Edwards (The Telegraph) claimed no such agreement had been struck.

What’s more, they both stated direct club-to-club talks between Newcastle and Arsenal had not even opened until today (Monday).

The lack of clarity on the situation has prompted transfer guru, Fabrizio Romano, to provide an extensive and comprehensive update on what’s really going on right now.

If Romano is a reporter you place great faith in, then his information suggests club-to-club talks started long before today, and an agreement on the transfer fee is very, very close to being sealed.

Fabrizio Romano reveals all on Bruno Guimaraes transfer saga

“Recently in the transfer market in terms of brief (briefings to the media and journalists), we are seeing several things, and it’s part of the game,” began Romano when speaking on his YouTube channel.

“I respect that, when there’s a director talking or a club briefing something, it’s part of the game. They obviously want to control the narrative and I absolutely understand that.

“But I can guarantee that Newcastle and Arsenal have been in talks for Bruno Guimaraes for some time. It’s not started today.

“They already had several conversations, then obviously the agents of the player are facilitating these conversations at some point, but for sure Arsenal and Newcastle remain in direct contact for Guimaraes.

“I maintain what I said over the weekend. Total confidence from Arsenal to sign Bruno Guimaraes. The deal is very close.

“Newcastle already started to work on replacement involving also the new coach Matthias Jaissle in these conversations.

“So Jaissle is already talking to Newcastle directors to indicate which player could be the right player to replace Guimaraes, because they know that this deal with Arsenal is very close.

“We still have to wait for the final steps, for the final agreement and for the ‘here we go’. It could be at any moment, because this deal is at the final stages and Arsenal are very confident on this one.

“And so Guimaraes – who has an agreement on personal terms with Arsenal, it’s been the case for a few weeks – and so Bruno is only waiting for the transfer to happen.

“We had several reports on Friday, Saturday and Sunday about deal done, deal closed, medical on Monday.

“That’s still not the case, but the deal is at the very advanced stages and the negotiation didn’t start today, I can guarantee that.”