Newcastle United need to sell before the end of the month to comply with profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) but have no intention of sacrificing Bruno Guimaraes at the altar of financial fair play.
Although details around Guimaraes’s £100m release clause have always been fairly opaque – drip fed by intermediaries to any possible deal rather than the club – it has been claimed by sources with knowledge of his contract that the option to trigger it expired on Monday night. That provides some much-needed clarity around one of the key cogs in a complex window for the Magpies.
There has always been a measure of confidence at St James’ Park that Guimaraes will stay this summer, with chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan speaking to the midfielder when he visited Tyneside last month.
And now the expiration of the £100m clause puts control of his future back in the hands of Newcastle – even if it is unlikely to completely extinguish interest from Manchester City or Arsenal, who both appear to rate him closer to the £80m mark and could test the water with offers later in the transfer window.
Despite Newcastle’s PSR predicament – for which they are trying to find alternative solutions – that is unlikely to succeed. One insider told i earlier in the season that rival clubs now understand they are “dealing with a different Newcastle”, and that extends to offers for Guimaraes below their valuation.
“They do not want to sell him. He is an absolutely key part of what Newcastle are trying to do,” one source told i.
Newcastle’s strategy before the so-called “soft” PSR deadline appears to revolve around Yankuba Minteh, the promising Gambia winger, who has interest from a host of clubs across Europe after impressing on loan at Feyenoord last season. Brokering a sale above the £20m mark, given Newcastle signed him for under £5m, would provide them with much-needed profit for PSR purposes.
Although the exact number required to comply with the rules is unknown – one unsatisfactory aspect of PSR rules is the lack of transparency – a deal for the 19-year-old would certainly help. Supporter discontent at a player with real potential leaving is understandable, but with few serious offers for any other players they would sacrifice, Newcastle have little option but to consider their options.
Links with Everton arrived over the weekend, alongside news of Newcastle being engaged in talks with the Toffees for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but those negotiations collapsed on Monday with both sides wide apart on valuations.
i was told by one insider that the Minteh-to-Everton deal was “never especially close” and the club want to tie Calvert-Lewin down to a new contract if possible. But the striker’s unwillingness to commit leaves the door open for Eddie Howe, who is a big admirer of the forward.
Lyon, Borussia Dortmund and Brighton are alternative destinations for Minteh. Newcastle may ask for some form of sell-on clause or even buy-back option in any deal.
It makes for a curious start to the summer at St James’ Park, where their pursuit of Burnley’s James Trafford has also stalled until after the “soft” PSR deadline. Picking up Lloyd Kelly on a free represented solid business early in the transfer window but a failed bid for Wolves’ Max Kilman illustrated their need to bring in another centre-back.
One source claimed Newcastle would almost have “two transfer windows” this summer: the first running until 30 June; and the second beginning in July, when more ambitious targets might come into their thinking.
For all that the targets so far have been domestic – an accusation among certain sections of the support is that Howe concentrates on the Premier League market too much – it is understood there are overseas targets on their radar too.
Callum Wilson and Martin Dubravka are expected to depart, while there is also a measure of uncertainty around Kieran Trippier, although his future will not become clear until later in the window as he participates in Euro 2024.
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