David Ornstein provides huge update in Arsenal's pursuit of Bruno Guimarães

David Ornstein of The Athletic has revealed Bruno Guimarães has informed Newcastle of his desire to leave the club and join Arsenal this summer.

The publication first revealed in June that the Gunners had identified the Brazil international as a potential target, seeing a verbal offer of below £60million rebuffed by the St James' Park outfit, but are now ready to step up their attempt to sign him.

Guimarães is now said to have made it clear to the Magpies that he wishes to depart Tyneside this summer in a bid to join the Premier League champions.

Bruno Guimarães informs Newcastle of desire to join Arsenal

As was the case when Arsenal made an initial verbal offer through intermediaries, Ornstein revealed there is yet to be any club-to-club contact with Newcastle not set to entertain any bids for Guimarães.

The Magpies have already seen Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali leave the club for Barcelona and Tottenham respectively for a total of roughly £160m this summer so are resigned to allowing another crucial player depart.

Having put pen to paper on a new contract in October 2023, Guimarães has two years remaining on his current Newcastle deal. With an initial £100m release clause inserted, but now expired, the Gunners are reportedly ready to pay up to £60m to acquire the midfielder's services.

With the player expressing his desire to leave and time running out to receive a substantial fee, the Magpies could eventually be forced to accept an offer and sanction a sale of Guimarães to Arsenal.

He was part of Brazil's squad at the FIFA World Cup, but a shock exit in a 2-1 defeat to Norway has seen him return home earlier than expected, meaning he will likely now be keen to find a new club before the beginning of the Premier League season in just over a month.

The Gunners have been long-term admirers of Guimarães and may finally be formalising that interest with a move this summer. At 28-years-old, 29 in November, he would be an older signing for Mikel Arteta's side, but with the potential sales of Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Christian Nørgaard this summer, there could be a desire to bring in a player with leadership experience.

Declan Rice has also been run into the ground over the past 12 months so his Brazilian counterpart could be ready to come in as either a midfield partner or an alternative option to offer him some much needed rest in what is anticipated to be yet another busy season.

It will certainly be interesting to see where Arsenal's pursuit of Bruno Guimarães goes from this point. Newcastle clearly don't want to sell, but with the player keen to leave to join the Premier League champions, they may not have much choice.

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