Exclusive: Barcelona see now as “right time” to swoop for Arsenal transfer target, coming weeks “crucial” | OneFootball

Barcelona are eyeing up a summer transfer window move for Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, who remains on the radar of Arsenal and Manchester City.

Sources with a close understanding of the situation have informed CaughtOffside that Barca view this as the “right time” to try signing Guimaraes, who has long been on their radar as a potential replacement for Frenkie de Jong.

Previous interest has not led to concrete efforts to sign Guimaraes, however, due to the fact that De Jong ended up staying at the Nou Camp even amid interest from the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea.

Now, however, Barcelona are keen to try this summer as their time to bring in Guimaraes as De Jong’s contract is due to expire in 2026.

Sources close to the situation describe the next few weeks as “crucial” for the Catalan giants to determine if this deal is realistic for them after well-established financial issues in the last couple of years.

Bruno Guimaraes applauds the Newcastle fans (Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Could Bruno Guimaraes be on his way out of Newcastle?

Although Newcastle will surely fight to keep an important player like Guimaraes, it’s possible that the Brazil international would not be seen as quite as important as someone like Alexander Isak.

Isak is expected to attract major interest this summer, and if NUFC sell Guimaraes instead, then it could help them financially and put them in a stronger position to fight to keep Isak and perhaps improve his contract.

Arsenal and Man City have shown an interest in Guimaraes before, but it’s not currently certain if they’ll be back in for the 27-year-old this summer.

The Gunners are in advanced talks over signing Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, while City have switched their focus towards Atalanta midfielder Ederson, CaughtOffside understands.