Newcastle and Lyon have reached an agreement over the signing of the Brazil international Bruno Guimarães. The fee for the defensive midfielder will be €40m (£33.3m) plus €8m (£6.7m) in bonuses.
Guimarães will take a medical when he returns to Brazil from Ecuador, where he is with his national team for Thursday’s World Cup qualifier. Other clubs, including Arsenal and Juventus, had hoped to buy Guimarães at the end of the season but Newcastle have got in ahead of them. The player joined Lyon in January 2020 from the Brazilian club Athletico Paranaense.
Meanwhile, Sevilla have ended negotiations with Newcastle over Diego Carlos and do not expect the central defender to depart during the transfer window. Final conversations between the clubs were held three days ago, with Newcastle’s offer rejected because it was insufficient and Sevilla would not have been able to replace him adequately at short notice.
Sevilla’s sporting director, Monchi, admitted that he had the offer arrived in the summer the deal may have been done but he considers this market closed. The only way Newcastle could sign Diego Carlos now would be to pay his €70m (£58.4m) buyout clause. Monchi said the defender was happy at Sevilla and the captain, Ivan Rakitic, insisted: “Sometimes it is a big opportunity but Diego and other players know what they have here.”
Monchi, speaking during a conference call set up by La Liga, said: “The offer was very important, respectful, but it was an offer that our board considered insufficient. It is also true that it was maybe not the best time. It’s a difficult market in which to find a replacement for him. If the offer had come in the summer, things may have been different. Jules [Koundé] is a magnificent player and I would say the same about Diego Carlos. I think he is one of the top five central defenders in Europe.”
Monchi added: “I was talking to Diego Carlos this morning and he was happy,” then joked: “Given how strong he is, if he wasn’t I might have had to change my mind.
“I want to go on holiday as soon as this call is over so if there are no signings while we’re talking, it’s finished. You never know – for as long as it is open, anything can happen – but our idea is that the market is over.”
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Rakitic acknowledged the Premier League was “a dream for a lot of players” but said: “Sevilla have grown, and that is seen in [Anthony] Martial joining us.
“This is a big club that can compete for everything and they know that too. For Diego and others this is a big opportunity to see Martial come here. Players don’t need to leave to be at a big club. Now they’re at a big club already. They know what they have here. I want players to be happy, have fun. A few jokes and Diego can be 100%, I am sure.”
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism