Newcastle ‘extremely close’ to completing marquee January transfer as medical passed in Brazil
Newcastle United are ‘extremely close’ to announcing the arrival of Bruno Guimaraes, according to a report, after the Lyon midfielder completed his medical in Brazil.
The Magpies have agreed a £40million deal to make the impressive Guimaraes their third capture of the January transfer window. Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood have already arrived at St James’ Park this month.
The £40m package includes an initial £33.3m, plus £6.5m in add-ons, as per Sky Sports.
The same outlet claim Guimaraes has today completed his medical, after travelling from Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte on Friday for the appointment.
Newcastle’s head of recruitment, Steven Nickson, is apparently in Brazil to complete the signing.
24-year-old Guimaraes is currently on international duty with the five-time World Cup winners. He is hoping to feature in their World Cup qualifier against Paraguay on Wednesday.
The earliest he will be able to travel to England and meet his new team-mates, plus manager Eddie Howe, will be Thursday.
Howe teases Bruno Guimaraes arrival
In a recent press conference, Howe revealed his team was on the verge of bringing in a new star. However, he refused to name them.
“We’re hopeful that we’re getting closer to completing a transfer for a player,” the Englishman told reporters.
“We’ll try and give you that update as soon as we have it but, fingers crossed, we’re close to getting one over the line.
“From my perspective, I don’t imagine that would be the end. Whether that turns into reality, who knows.
“Things change very late in this window as everybody knows. It can be quite unpredictable in the last couple of days, with lots of things maybe happening that we didn’t expect.
“We’re open. We’re working hard to improve the squad. Our biggest aim is to give the team the best chance of staying in the league.”
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Newcastle have centre-back offer rejected
Meanwhile, Newcastle have had a €30m (£25m) bid for a Sporting Lisbon star rejected, according to one journalist.
Pursuits of centre-halves Sven Botman and Diego Carlos have failed, forcing them to target Dan Burn of Brighton.
He is not the only central defender on Newcastle’s radar. According to Sport Witness, who cite Portuguese journalist Pedro Sepulveda, the St James’ Park club have made a £25m offer for Sporting Lisbon’s Goncalo Inacio.
He is just 20 years old but is already an important part of the Sporting first team, having made 14 league appearances this term.
The Portuguese club have a history of producing top players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Nuno Mendes and Daniel Podence. Inacio is aiming to follow in their footsteps.
Unfortunately for Newcastle, their opening offer has been pushed back by Sporting. They will now monitor Inacio’s progress before returning for him in the summer transfer window.
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