Bruno Guimaraes is no longer a Newcastle United player.
To make it all the worse, he has gone to Arsenal.
We knew that this was on the cards but it doesn’t make it any easier.
Until it becomes a done deal there is always hope, hope that somehow not all the necessary ducks are able to be lined up that will allow the deal to happen.
On Saturday though the ducks were all in place and it was made official, Bruno Guimaraes has swapped St James’ Park for the Emirates.
So what exactly has Bruno Guimaraes done wrong?
Bruno joined Newcastle United at the end of January 2022. Newcastle had won two of their 23 matches, instantly knocked out of both domestic cups and with only 17 Premier League games of the 2021/22 season remaining the squad looked doomed to relegation.
If we go back four and a half years, Bruno Guimaraes interviewed for the first time after signing for Newcastle United at the end of the January 2022 transfer window:
“We are going to be a club with big power in world football. The [Newcastle United] owners were very up front [when we had talks], that this season the idea is to stay in the Premier League. However, in the future, the main objective in the seasons to come, is to be in the Champions League and eventually to win the Champions League. This is a club with a fascinating project, great tradition and passionate fans. I’m 100% focused on doing my best and my objective [this season] is to remain in the Premier League, we know it is difficult, but we have a really good team and we have made some good signings this season. I’m aiming to go to the World Cup [in Qatar in November / December] and fans can be rest assured that I will give my all on the pitch. It is very very beautiful this stadium [St James Park] and I am very happy to be here.”
At the time it was a huge risk for Bruno Guimaraes. Unless you choose not to remember how things were, you will know United appeared doomed for sure. Leaving Lyon, within four months Bruno could well have found himself looking forward to Championship football and with that, it would have meant for sure an end to his dreams of going to the 2022 Qatar World Cup. At the time he was on the fringes of the Brazil squad and trying to establish himself.
I don’t know quite how Newcastle United got the deal done (well, telling him NUFC would be soon challenging to win the Champions League might have helped) but credit to all who got the transfer done. Even though maybe the Newcastle United owners, Amanda Staveley I presume, were telling Bruno anything they could dream/make up…
Four and a half years later and every match Bruno Guimaraes has given the Newcastle United fans the proverbial 110 percent. He never knew when he was beaten and like the Duracell Bunny he never stopped, even when pain was etched on his face he never wanted to come off before the final whistle.
For those who say ‘Availability is the best ability’, Bruno Guimaraes is your man. He was unavailable for maybe a handful of Newcastle United matches across four years before getting injured at Tottenham in February and missing a couple of months.
By September 2025 a the very very latest, the Newcastle United owners and senior staff would have all known that the three year UEFA SCR 70% limit was going to be breached and significant changes would have to be made in summer 2026 when it came to transfer market strategy and the wage bill. All of the senior Newcastle United players and their representatives would have also been aware of that at the same time.
Even with relatively ambitious spending after the October 2021 takeover, the Premier League’s FFP/PSR restrictions meant that Newcastle United had never ever been able to get into in a position where they could build a big enough squad, with enough depth in quality, to compete in the Champions League AND the three domestic competitions.
The ridiculous number of injuries in the 2023/24 season meant it was a minor miracle that Eddie Howe still managed to get Newcastle United to 60 points, United getting to the quarter-finals of both domestic cups and also performing well in a tough UCL group that included one team who got to the final (Dortmund) and another to the semi-finals (PSG).
This most recent 2025/26 season featured 12 Champions League matches and 58 games in total that was always going to be mission impossible for such a small NUFC squad. A handful of real quality players, a number of good to very good ones, as well as in reality some who were nowhere near the level needed.
Newcastle’s best players had to play far too many matches, every midweek as well as weekend, far too many injuries as well once again. The same as the previous NUFC Champions League season, maybe no coincidence.
Many fans would say Eddie Howe should have used more rotation and yet when the reality would be Joe Willock and certain others needing to come in, these same fans would be the first to complain about such a weakened team selection.
Which bring us to summer 2026
As detailed above, the UEFA three year SCR limits that allow only 70% of revenues to be spent on transfer fees and wages, meant that not only couldn’t the amount of money spent on transfer fees and wages be increased, it had to go the other way.
Newcastle United needed to not only sell some of their best players and top earners, then bring in cheaper replacements, they had to generate enough financial flex to be able to bring in replacements AND others. The squad was still too small, even to just tackle the three domestic competitions.
So we have seen many players on significant wages leave, the likes of Trippier, Ramsdale, Vlachodimos, Krafth and Targett.
Then the Newcastle United owners and senior staff clearly happy to sell both Tonali and Gordon for a combined £170m (as well as saving on their wages) to help meet UEFA SCR restrictions for the next year and help allow the number of signings that needed to be brought in.
I am not totally convinced that the club hierarchy are as gutted as they claim to have lost Bruno Guimaraes, considering he is (was!) the highest earner of all. I think more a case of gutted that they weren’t able to get more like £90m+, rather than the £75m compromise fee they agreed in the end with Arsenal.
Even if you believe that the Newcastle United owners and senior staff were totally resistant to the idea of selling Bruno Guimaraes at any price, I still don’t get the way some fans are talking about our departed captain.
I am as gutted as anybody that he no longer will be in black and white but I can also see the reality.
A bit like King Kev famously said to Sir John Hall, it’s not like it said in the brochure.
Bruno Guimaraes told in January 2022 that Newcastle United could/would be challenging to win the Champions League, it sounds all a bit like Yasir Al-Rumayyan telling the world that the intention is to make NUFC number one in the world, or CEO David Hopkinson telling us all that by 2030 Newcastle United could/would be competing for all trophies.
I have no doubt that by the time last season ended, everybody running Newcastle United were aware that Tonali, Gordon AND Bruno were all intending/wanting to move on.
Bruno Guimaraes gave us his all for four and a half years and we all wanted that to continue, we wanted more.
We wanted him to stay here forever, to commit the rest of his playing career to helping Newcastle United in their rebuild, their 2.0, to effectively give up the chance of realistically competing for trophies in the remaining peak years of his time on the pitch.
He would have become a true Newcastle United legend if he had done so but instead we have a player who was simply brilliant for four and a half years and gave us so much in that time. Avoiding relegation, Wembley finals, Champions League qualifications…and a trophy.
I loved the time he and his family spent on Tyneside and will never forget them.
Bruno Guimaraes simply asked for a move and all the rest of it is just smoke and mirrors when people are trying to lay extra layers of fault on him. It was Arsenal that made it into a messy lengthy saga, not Bruno. As for those who say why didn’t he go somewhere other than Arsenal? Obviously they are meaning a club abroad but the Arsenal saga went on so long that any interested club could have came in for him but clearly didn’t, realistically I would have thought only PSG or Real Madrid could have managed the financial side of things for a Bruno deal and no sign at all they were interested.
Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer are the ultimate Newcastle United legends in my lifetime.
Bruno Guimaraes is just one level down, which isn’t bad.