BRU YOU GONNA CALL? Guimaraes tells Newcastle he wants Arsenal transfer in crushing blow to Toon as Gunners plot £60m move for midfield star

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Arsenal have been handed serious encouragement in their efforts to sign Bruno Guimaraes after he asked to leave

Newcastle

. The Brazilian midfielder has emerged as one of the Gunners’ main targets this summer and they have already seen one bid rebuffed by their

Premier League

rivals.

But it appears that Newcastle’s hand could potentially be forced. Guimaraes, 28, has informed Newcastle chiefs of his desire to leave St James’ Park this summer and is keen to move to

Arsenal

.

According to

The Athletic

, the North London side will now step up their pursuit of the former Lyon man and would be willing to put together a £60m package for his services. As it stands, no club-to-club talks have taken place, while Newcastle remain determined to keep him.

Guimaraes joined Newcastle in a £40m move from Lyon in 2022 and he has gone on to make 195 appearances for the club, scoring 30 times. He has been key to the club ending their trophy drought by winning the Carabao Cup, and also helped them to a place in the

Champions League

Guimaraes has two years left on his contract with Newcastle. He was also linked with a move to

Manchester United

earlier this year, with reports suggesting that the Red Devils had agreed terms with him.

But Newcastle boss

Eddie Howe

moved to shoot down those rumours. Speaking at the time, he said: "I don’t even know how to respond to that. I don’t even think I should because it’s a waste of my energy.

"I’m not going to be impolite because I don’t think it’s the forum to do that in. For me it’s a nonsense story. Bruno’s our captain, he’s fully committed. He’s injured at the moment, his only focus is coming back to fitness. For me, it is not the time to think about it.

“In the summer, you can understand those stories a little bit more because the transfer window is open. To say our captain is in discussions with another club is totally disrespectful to Bruno more than anything else. He is totally committed here."

Should Guimaraes leave, he would become the latest high-profile player to depart over the past year. Alexander Isak joined

Liverpool

last summer, while Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon have been sold to

Tottenham

Hotspur and

Barcelona

respectively.

Kieran Trippier

was also allowed to leave and joined Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of his contract.