Newcastle United are ready to issue another "hands off" warning on Bruno Guimaraes ahead of the World Cup. Eddie Howe stated last week that new contract talks are yet to unfold on the former Lyon man after he only signed a new deal taking him to 2026 in January.
But it may be inevitable that Newcastle have to get around the table soon with Bruno as Real Madrid and Chelsea show a big interest in the midfielder.
Suggestions in the capital are that Newcastle are prepared to offer Bruno a £200,000 per week deal but Toon sources have not confirmed such an offer at this stage. Such a contract would break the wage ceiling at Newcastle with the highest earners picking up around £120,000 at the moment.
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Keeping the earnings list at a lower level compared to some of the big guns in the Premier League was something Howe wanted last summer as he looked to maintain harmony and squad spirit. However, the Bruno transfer has been a bigger success than any football observer could have imagined with the 24-year-old excelling on the Premier League stage.
Bruno himself has played down talk of Real Madrid in the last month or so and appears committed to United. He also has no escape clause in his contract.
The philosophy of Howe has been Newcastle don't want to sell their best players. Sporting director Dan Ashworth said this month: "Absolutely, I do not want to sell Bruno. You have to trade, given Financial Fair Play.
"There’ll be times… I can’t lie to you and say we’ll never have to sell a player, that doesn’t happen anywhere. Liverpool sold Sadio Mane (this summer).
"You have to sometimes make a pragmatic decision to go, ‘OK, we’ll do that, because that’s a way of reinvesting’. But, as a rule of thumb, I would like to think we’ll be able to hold onto our top talent to drive our ambitions."
Howe is set to meet the media on Friday and the answer is likely to be the same after another batch of stories linking Bruno with Chelsea and Real Madrid since his star showing at Spurs last weekend.
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