Official Bruno Guimaraes bid rejected by Newcastle as Arsenal make their move

The Bruno Guimaraes saga has taken a series of twists and turns today.

It was initially claimed that our captain was late in returning to our La Manga training camp, with the Brazilian delayed after being expected to reunite with the group on Sunday.

Instead, he is now en-route to the camp, having left his homeland on Sunday, and will soon touch down in La Manga, not only to see his teammates but hold discussions with new boss Matthias Jaissle.

However, just as this situation was being explained by a host of North East reporters, news dropped of Arsenal's opening offer for the 28-year-old.

Opening Bruno offer falls short

Newcastle United have rejected Arsenal's opening offer for Bruno Guimaraes.

As revealed by Luke Edwards, Keith Downie and Mark Douglas, the Gunners have finally entered formal talks with Newcastle, but their first official bid has fallen short.

While no figures are mentioned, the iPaper claim that Arsenal's offer falls 'significantly short' of Newcastle's £80m asking price.

Talks are set to continue between both clubs, and there is a belief that Bruno will express his desire to leave for Arsenal when the midfielder meets with Jaissle later today.

We've been here before

While this is different to the Alexander Isak saga, the situation feels quite similar.

A star player wants to leave, and a 'big six' club wants to get it done after weeks of talk and not enough action. Those things are clear, but what we don't yet know is how much Newcastle will demand.

Bruno is our captain, our best player and, in many ways, the glue that sticks this team together. He is undoubtedly our most important figure, so any sale price simply must reflect his value to us.

Arsenal will highlight his age and contract situation, but they have big money behind them and can't expect to take our prized asset without paying a huge sums, much like Liverpool did for Isak 12 months ago.