Andrea Berta has already earned plenty of praise from Arsenal supporters for his recruitment work, but could the club’s sporting director be laying the foundations for another major signing?
Dan Smith believes the Italian may once again be using his patient approach to gain the upper hand in the transfer market.
Berta’s recruitment strategy keeps delivering
Possibly one of the best appointments the Kroenke family have made since taking control of Arsenal was bringing Andrea Berta to the club.
The Italian’s transfer strategy appears to be gathering as much information as possible on every player on his shortlist before reviewing everything he has collected and deciding the best course of action.
The Gunners benefited from that approach last summer when our sporting director learned that north London was the preferred destination for the likes of Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyökeres, helping Arsenal avoid becoming involved in unnecessary bidding wars.
Once the Swedish striker insisted he had a verbal agreement with Sporting CP to be allowed to leave, he was effectively left trying to negotiate the asking price down himself.
Well, Mr Berta could be at it again.
Could Bruno Guimarães be next?
Newcastle United have repeatedly stressed through local media that they do not want to lose Bruno Guimarães, while reports have suggested there was never any agreement allowing the midfielder to leave if the Magpies failed to qualify for Europe.
That raises an obvious question.
If Newcastle are determined to keep their captain, where has the reported £60-70 million valuation come from?
In a market where players such as Elliot Anderson are reportedly moving for around £115 million and Newcastle are said to be close to receiving almost £100 million for Sandro Tonali, you can understand why they value one of their most influential players so highly.
Yet the reality is we are talking about a 28-year-old with just two years remaining on his contract.
The reports that have not been strongly dismissed on Tyneside suggest Guimarães has made it known that, if he were to leave, Arsenal would be his preferred destination.
It’s believed the Brazilian has enjoyed his time at Newcastle and doesn’t want to damage his relationship with the supporters. Yet that could be exactly what Arsenal’s recruitment team are relying upon.
Agreeing personal terms means very little if a buying club cannot agree a fee.
Equally, it becomes much harder for a club to insist a player is not for sale if that player makes it clear he wants to move and has no intention of signing a new contract.
Football has always operated in the grey areas.
Years ago it was labelled “tapping up”. Today, it feels as though clubs have simply become better at working within the regulations while ensuring conversations still take place behind the scenes.
Mr Berta is regarded as one of the best in the business at navigating that process.
Is he about to do it again?
Dan Smith
What do you think, Gooners? Could Andrea Berta persuade Bruno Guimarães to become Arsenal’s next marquee signing, or do you believe Newcastle will stand firm this summer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Everybody has a price. When a player says he wants to move what’s the point in keeping them. Bruno would be a good buy for Arsenal.
60/70m for a guy who will turn 29 later this year and will therefore have little in the way of an resale value, does not seem like a “good buy” for Arsenal.Bruno is a fine all purpose central midfielder but there are other, younger versions available out there, with Kone of Roma and France being one of them.
And Bouaddi being another – someone with resale value..
I agree, because Guimaraes failed to make Newcastle stay in EPL top four despite having had the likes of £100m Isak/ Tonali as his teammates and his Brazil midfield got dominated by Norway
Manu Kone could be a better investment due to his bigger stature, younger age and better World Cup achievement
I personally prefer Danilo Oliveira or Adam Wharton, because they can play the left DM and left-sided AM role ahead of Lewis-Skelly
A right-footed DM should be the last priority, unless Arsenal plan to sell Zubimendi
if we win the Prem it’s worth it
You all seems to be ignoring one very important fact, the man from the land of Samba is a proven campaigner
Nice opinion this! But it all remains to be seen yet again,
Hopefully the dominoes falls greatly in place for us
Well, as an aside I just cant stop thinking of the glow and glory that will accompany our beloved club’s crest when that elusive european champion star gets added
Who else is fascinated by this as me?
Hincapie and Mosquero were good signings as were Gyokeres and Zubimendi.
I would not call them master strokes which I would reserve for Raya, Timber, Rice, Saliba and Gabriel all of whom were signed by Edu.
Anything over £50 million for a soon to be 29 year old who has nothing more than a carabao cup winners medal to his name is money wasted.
If you asked the question who has had the biggest impact on Arsenal’s Premier League win Berta or Edu I would say Edu by a landslide…
I think it’s fair to say that neither Eze nor Madueke have set the heather on fire for Arsenal or England and i would not be surprised if Arteta decided to cut his losses with the ex Chelsea man, sooner rather than later.
Seconded
Should never have bought him ruined Nwaneri
has to take responsibility
If Elliot Anderson and Morgan Rogers are each worth £120+ then how much is Jude Bellingham worth?
If Berta really is going to pull a ‘masterstroke’ then he would sign Bellingham for Arsenal. Mission impossible? Probably, but Real Madrid have been eyeing-up Saliba as well as a few other Arsenal players so maybe not totally impossible. Just highly unlikely!
Several reasons this won’t happen.
Bellingham has a contract until 2029. Even if Madrid were willing to sell one of their most crucial players, he would cost us close to £200m, wiping out our transfer budget for a year.
His current salary is £345,000 per week, before performance bonusses. While in theory we can afford this, it puts upward pressure on other salaries since our highest paid player (Saka) is on £300,000. Accounting for revenue it will result in us getting closer to UEFA’s 70% rule, which could limit future moves.
Why would he even want to leave Madrid now? Assuming no urgent personal desire to return to England. He’s 23, still has 10 years of career ahead, and becoming a superstar at the richest, biggest club in the world.
Maybe if revenues continue to rise, for example through winning the UCL and growing other revenues, it could be discussed in 2027 or 2028, but I expect RM will go hard on tying him to a new contract.
Guimaraes would be a good signing solely because Rice can have the R&R needed to over come his injury issues. PL experience. Zubi,MLS & him is a good combo then theres our captain of course. For me,that is the reasoning for this attempt to buying him. Buy Abouddi let him stay away for the season & improve. Cheaper price that way & comes to Arsenal ready to compete.
I like Bruno G ; he can fit in with Arsenal and critically important , he knows and has performed well in the PL.
If be behaves himself (unlike his former colleague Isak who was a disgrace to the Magpies !), he is coming to London.