Arsenal reach Bruno Guimaraes agreement as £75m transfer set to be confirmed

Arsenal have reached an agreement with Newcastle United to sign Bruno Guimaraes as Mikel Arteta closes in on his fourth signing of the summer transfer window

Arsenal have agreed a £75million fee to sign Bruno Guimaraes from Newcastle United.

The Gunners have been linked with a move for Guimaraes, 28, throughout the summer as Mikel Arteta tries to add more experience and knowhow to his midfield.

On Monday, it emerged that Arsenal had submitted their first official bid, believed to be £70m, to Newcastle for Guimaraes. But the Magpies rejected the offer and valued the Brazil international at around £80m.

It's believed the transfer has been driven by super agent Kia Joorabchian, who had been brought in by Guimaraes to help negotiate the deal. Joorabchian has helped engineer a number of high-profile transfers over the years, including Philippe Coutinho's £142m move to Barcelona, and Guimaraes to Arsenal is set to be the next.

Newcastle went into the transfer window insisting it would take a ridiculous offer to tempt them to sell Guimaraes, but their position has taken a battering. Joorabchian's influence in talks, coupled with Guimaraes informing former manager Eddie Howe and the club that he is desperate to leave, has helped bring the price down.

With Arsenal and Newcastle coming to an agreement on the fee, Guimaraes is now waiting at the Magpies' pre-season training camp in La Manga, Spain for permission to travel to London to finalise the deal.

The Gunners are said to be preparing Guimaraes' medical for later this week with a hope that the move is completed before they go up against Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup on Sunday.

Should the deal go through as anticipated, Guimaraes would become the club's fourth signing of the summer after ex-Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier arrived on a free transfer, Christos Tzolis joined in a £34m move from Club Brugge and Piero Hincapie's loan became permanent for £34m.

Guimaraes arrived at Newcastle's Spanish training base on Monday after being allowed an extended break following his participation for Brazil at this summer's World Cup. It does mean that he hasn't had much of a pre-season so far, however, and he might to take a couple of weeks to get up to speed.

FOLLOW OUR ARSENAL FB PAGE! Latest Gunners news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page

Although Arsenal have been forced to wait until the first week of August to get a deal agreed for Guimaraes, Arteta insisted on Saturday that the Gunners are desperate to strengthen their squad.

Speaking after the 4-1 win over Girona, Arteta said: "We are really active, trying to improve and evolve the team. That’s clear. We expect to have movements in the next three weeks, obviously, because we want to get better like anybody else. You can just see the transfer market and what our opponents are doing. We won’t sit still. We are very ambitious in where we want to go."