Fabrizio Romano gives and takes, as the transfer guru delivers a good/bad news update for Newcastle United fans.
Yesterday, it was widely believed that Newcastle and Joelinton were close to agreeing on a new four-year contract extension after the Brazilian appeared to have played his final game for the club.
The contract stalemate meant that Newcastle could have looked to sell Joelinton in the summer rather than lose him on a free transfer next year, and his current injury is expected to keep him out for the rest of the season, potentially marking the end of the fan-favourite player’s time in Newcastle.
Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that because the deal between Joelinton and Newcastle is
Another week another Bruno exit story
That was the good part of Fabrizio Romano’s daily briefing for Give Me Sport. The not-so-good news referred to Joelinton’s bestie, Bruno Guimaraes who Romano maintains is still not guaranteed to stay at St James’ Park.
“I think a summer exit for Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle is a possibility, because when you are a special player like he is, and we know how busy the market can get, I think it’s normal that a player like this will have interest from top clubs.
“Still, I don’t think this is something that will be clarified in May or even early June, it’s probably something more like July or August. The release clause is there, and it’s worth £100m, so this will be valid this summer and it will be a big opportunity for many clubs, but it’s also something that’s not easy to complete in the first days of the summer transfer window.
“We know Financial Fair Play could be important, so let’s see if Newcastle are able to make some money and then invest in other players, but I think the timing will be the really crucial point – at the moment I’m not aware of any advanced negotiation, but the interest is there, this is the reality.”
We are still very confident that Bruno stays
When you read between the lines, it does seem like all Romano is saying is that the £40m signing from Lyon could leave, which can be said about literally every player.
While FFP still has a part to play in our summer, Newcastle are in a healthier position, financially, than they were last year thanks to the Champions League involvement and the start of the Adidas deal, as well as the other commercial deals the club has worked on.
Of course, there’s still the possibility that FFP is thrown out of the window anyway, hopefully in favour of the ‘luxury tax’ idea which will really unlock Newcastle’s spending potential and should really put these Bruno rumours to bed.
For now, we just have to accept that at any given opportunity, journalists are going to link our star players with a move away until we start winning silverware.
