Arsenal have signed Bruno Guimarães from Newcastle United for a fixed £75 million fee, the Premier League champions have confirmed. The Brazil international, who turns 29 in November, has signed a four-year contract with the option of a further year.
Guimarães said: "I'm so excited to join you. I will give you my best, I promise. I'm your warrior, I'll never give up. Hopefully we can create many, many good memories together." Arsenal's sporting director, Andrea Berta, said: "We are delighted to welcome Bruno Guimarães to our club. Bruno is a player with a great mentality and great quality, who will bring strong leadership to our squad."
Guimarães called leaving Newcastle "one of the toughest decisions of my life" and said in a farewell statement to the club: "I fell in love with this place. I really mean that. From my first day, the supporters, my teammates, Eddie and the staff, and everyone connected with the club made me and my family feel at home." Speaking separately about the move, he said it "comes down to differences in ideas" with Newcastle: "Something that can happen in a relationship as beautiful, as strong and passionate as ours. Sometimes life leads us in a different direction." He added that he had held "a very positive conversation" with Newcastle's new head coach, Matthias Jaissle, before his departure.
The sale takes Newcastle's summer disposals past £240 million, following Anthony Gordon's £69.3 million move to Barcelona and Sandro Tonali's £100 million switch to Tottenham; Eddie Howe also left the club this summer, with Matthias Jaissle installed as head coach. Newcastle said the fee "represents one of the top-10 highest transfer fees ever received for a player aged 28 or over, and a record fee for a player of his age and position combined." Newcastle's sporting director, Ross Wilson, said the club had little choice but to let their captain go: "What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, he effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on. That doesn't mean he can go, but it certainly plays a part in what our thinking is when we hit a certain range of number."