Arsenal make contact for Bruno Guimaraes, who wants his future settled by 31 July

Arsenal have made formal club-to-club contact with Newcastle United about signing Bruno Guimaraes, and the Brazil midfielder has told his representatives he wants the whole thing settled inside a week. The two clubs are still a long way apart on what he is worth.

The clock Guimaraes has started

Guimaraes is due back at Newcastle on 31 July. He was one of several players given an extended summer break after the World Cup, and Eddie Howe has already confirmed the midfielder is expected to join up with the rest of the squad then, before they travel to Spain for a warm-weather camp.

What he wants is clarity before that date. He is not threatening to force anything and has no intention of refusing to travel. He just does not fancy reporting back to a dressing room while negotiations grind on in public, fielding the same question every day for a month.

That gives everyone a matter of days rather than weeks, in a window that runs until 1 September.

Under £80m or around £100m

Here is the gap. Arsenal sources believe a deal can be done for less than £80 million. Newcastle have set their mark considerably higher, and their reference point is Sandro Tonali’s move to Tottenham Hotspur earlier this summer, a club-record package worth up to £100 million with £92.5m paid up front. In Newcastle’s reading, Guimaraes is arguably the more important of the two to their team, so anything materially below the Tonali bracket is not a serious offer.

Newcastle also insist no formal written bid has arrived. Arsenal, for their part, believe they have effectively made three approaches, verbal ones included. That is not a disagreement about money so much as a disagreement about whether negotiations have properly begun.

Personal terms, at least, are not the obstacle. Those were agreed in principle weeks ago, and the 28-year-old is keen on the Emirates.

Newcastle are not blinking

Club sources at St James’ Park are relaxed. They fully expect Guimaraes to report on schedule, they have no plans to extend his leave, and they are planning on the basis that he flies to Spain with everyone else. Newcastle play Bristol City at Ashton Gate on 29 July, two days before he is due back, then head out to the camp, with a friendly against Valencia at the Mestalla on 8 August and the league opener against Liverpool on 23 August.

It is a reasonable position to hold. Guimaraes has already told the club, Howe included, that he would like to leave in this window, and Newcastle have not budged. A player under contract who has ruled out downing tools has limited leverage, and both sides know it.

The pressure is on Arsenal, not Newcastle

The interesting wrinkle is where Guimaraes’ camp have aimed their pressure. It is not at Newcastle. It is at Arsenal.

His representatives have reminded the Gunners that Chelsea and Manchester City have been kept in the loop all summer, and that Arsenal have been made the priority destination throughout. The message is that the north London club now need to convert that goodwill into a written bid. It is a polite way of saying the queue exists and it will not wait forever.

Arsenal go into this as the reigning Premier League champions, and they have already been busy, adding Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge among others while continuing to circle Vinicius Junior. Guimaraes would be a different kind of signing, with four and a half seasons of evidence behind him that he can run a Premier League midfield week to week. That is a long way from a bet on what a young player might become.

Where this lands

Someone has to move. Arsenal can put in a written bid at their own number and dare Newcastle to reject it publicly, or they can close the gap and get it done. Newcastle can hold the line and start the season with a visibly unsettled senior midfielder, or they can cash a nine-figure cheque for a player who turns 30 inside two years.

Neither club looks desperate, which is usually when transfers drift. The difference here is that the player has put a date on it, and 31 July is not far away.

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