Newcastle United have arrived in La Manga with a room reserved for Bruno Guimaraes at their Grand Hyatt training base in southern Spain. Sporting director Ross Wilson was on the chartered flight from Newcastle and will work on transfers during the club's stay.
CEO David Hopkinson and Wilson are controlling the transfer, with full authority from the club's Saudi backers, PIF. The pair are the key figures as far as Bruno's contract is concerned, with two years left on his deal, and their stance all summer has been that they do not want to sell.
No Arsenal contact as speculation grows
Wilson has transfer meetings lined up with Matthias Jaissle across the weekend, with the German head coach set to be appointed as Eddie Howe's successor. Newcastle are baffled by transfer talk coming out of Arsenal, with insiders insisting no concrete offer has been tabled at this stage.
Even last summer, when Alexander Isak was sold to Liverpool for £125m, the first bid was placed on August 1 at £110m and swiftly rejected. That will be the case again if Arsenal push forward and bid £70m for the Brazil international. One source at Arsenal has consistently stated that the Gunners will not pay close to £80m for the midfielder's services.
On Tyneside, fresh claims that the Gunners have signalled to Newcastle that they are ready to pay £85m were flatly rejected. Newcastle sources confirmed that there had been "no contact" from Arsenal yesterday or throughout a summer in which Bruno's head has been filled with ideas of a transfer that may still not be given the green light.
Bruno and Newcastle agreed for the player to fly to Spain direct from South America after initial plans of hooking up on Friday would have involved ending his holiday earlier and requiring three connecting flights to get to the club's training camp. The player paid a lengthy and emotional tribute to Eddie Howe last night after the manager's exit was confirmed.
Young players impress in pre-season
The work of the Newcastle youngsters who starred in pre-season did not go unnoticed this week. A number of kids played against both Gateshead and Bristol City, including Matheos Ferreira, who helped set up a goal for Harvey Barnes in the 4-1 defeat at Ashton Gate and starred at the International Stadium.
Ferreira scored in the 3-3 draw against Spennymoor in a friendly this week, but some youngsters will not travel to La Manga. The presence of second string boss Robbie Stockdale in the dressing room and at both venues is welcome. The U21s will not be far from the first team this week as they have a training camp in Spain at the Pinatar Arena.
Elanga's class act
The Sweden winger is desperate for a good start to the season and he did OK at Bristol City before the game went wrong. But perhaps the contribution that will be remembered the most from Elanga was when he made a caring gesture to a young lad who made his way onto the field to see the players at the final whistle.
The 3,400 fans applauded wildly despite a 4-1 loss, and after the little fella had been escorted off the field by a steward he managed to drop his scarf. Elanga was watching events closely and jogged over to give the kid his scarf back, draping it on his shoulders. A class act - and applauded by the travelling fans.
