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Eddie Howe has revealed that Bruno Guimarães’s £100m release clause expires in the final days of June and hopes that will save Newcastle from a summer of transfer speculation centred on their Brazil midfielder.
“Having that was well planned and structured in the sense that there’s a finish point,” said Newcastle’s manager, who almost certainly has Dan Ashworth, the Manchester United-bound sporting director, to thank for inserting the cut-off when Guimarães’s contract was renegotiated last October. “We don’t want a summer of speculation. I don’t think that would be healthy for the player or for us.”
Although Howe is desperate to build his team around Guimarães, the clause dictates that should anyone be prepared to pay £100m, that sum will be included in Newcastle’s 2023-24 accounts. This means it could be used to boost their summer spending while keeping the club on the right side of Premier League profitability and sustainability rules.
With potential buyers having only a relatively short window to activate the clause, Howe is cautiously optimistic that despite admiring glances from, among others, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Manchester United, Guimarães will be part of his squad next season.
Should anyone try in July or August to buy a player who cost £35m from Lyon and has four years on his deal, Newcastle will be able to deter them by inflating the price significantly.
Howe is well aware that Guimarães is a regular passenger on the frequent Air France flights between Newcastle and Paris but he is not convinced the 26-year-old’s heart is necessarily set on a move to PSG. “We want to keep Bruno,” he said. “We want to build our team around him. He’s an integral part of what we’re doing. His form has been very good. He seems very happy and settled here. He’s a big part of where we can hopefully take the team. But we’re not in control of that so we shall see.”
Should Newcastle secure a place in next season’s Europa League, Guimarães may be tempted to remain at the £4m house he has purchased in Northumberland, and Howe is hoping their European qualification campaign will be revived at home to Sheffield United on Saturday after Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat at Crystal Palace.
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Poor results often prompt Howe to indulge in a spot of meditation. “I’d say I meditate infrequently, now and then, depending on what results are like,” he said. “If we’re going through a bad spell I might be meditating a little more. I use an app and tend to do 10 minutes at a time. I’m well aware of the benefits of meditation and going into that sort of world. And I’m fully supportive of players who want to go into it.”
