Fabrizio Romano reveals huge Newcastle United transfer boost amid fresh Bruno Guimaraes release clause claims

Fabrizio Romano doesn’t believe that Bruno Guimaraes will leave St James’ Park this month, despite reports that both PSG and Liverpool are interested in signing the Brazilian. Guimaraes has starred for Newcastle since moving to the club from Lyon two years ago and has become one of Eddie Howe’s key men.

However, this form has led to speculation over his future on Tyneside with some of Europe’s biggest clubs interested in his services. Despite this speculation, Romano doesn’t believe that Guimaraes will leave Newcastle this month, although he has fallen short of also ruling-out the possibility in summer.

Speaking to Caught Offside, Romano said: “Despite rumours, nothing is clear now on Bruno Guimaraes. Bruno has not decided to leave, there’s nothing decided in terms of price, all reports on Spanish clubs are not confirmed just because time for decisions is not now. Bruno is expected to stay in January and then in the next months we will see what happens.”

Romano’s claims come amid fresh rumours surrounding the release clause in Guimaraes’ contract. The midfielder signed a new five-year extension with Newcastle United back in October but had a release clause, believed to be north of £100m, inserted into the deal.

This release clause means Newcastle will be powerless to resist offers for the 26-year-old should anyone trigger it. Recent reports from Spain, however, have suggested that a buying club will only have to pay around £33m up front to sign Guimaraes, with the full transfer fee being paid in three separate instalments.

Whilst Newcastle United will be very reluctant to see Guimaraes leave the club, either this month or in January, CEO Darren Eales recently revealed that the club will have to trade players, and potentially lose a star player, in order to stay within PSG (Profit and Sustainability Regulations) FFP (Financial Fair Play) constraints whilst also being able to strengthen the first-team squad in other areas.

Asked if the club could lose someone like Guimaraes in the near-future, Eales said: "It’s difficult to hypothesise but, if we’re offered £1billion for one of those players, then no one could argue against that making sense. Any decision we make will always be against the backdrop of the medium to long-term benefit for the club.

"It’s difficult to say specifically on certain players, but I can say that, if we’re going to get to where we want to get to, at times it is necessary to trade your players. Whether that is because of the contract length of the player in question, the offer is too good to refuse, you need to reload in certain areas, but all of this could make sense to trade that player.

"It is counter-intuitive and part of the inherent system of PSR that there is an incentive to trade your players if you want to re-invest, by the nature of the boundaries.”

When asked if every player at the club has a price, Eales replied: "Correct."

Newcastle United have stressed the need to comply with both FFP and PSR to avoid possible points deductions.