By Kieran Maguire

17th Sep, 2023 | 11:08am

Kieran Maguire: Newcastle United 'saving money' through £31m Bruno Guimaraes deal

Newcastle United are actually ‘saving money’ in the long-term by offering Bruno Guimaraes a new contract.

That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who explained to Football Insider that a new contract extension will preserve the transfer value of the 25-year-old midfielder.

It has been reported by The Telegraph that the Magpies are close to agreeing a contract extension with Guimaraes to keep him at St James’ Park until 2028.

The Brazilian midfielder is set to become one of the club’s highest earners with a new wage of £120,000-a-week – valuing the deal at £31million throughout its five-year span.

Guimaraes joined Newcastle from Lyon in a £40million move in January 2022 following the club’s Saudi Arabia-backed takeover.

Maguire believes Newcastle will be managing their wage bill closely and will actually save money by securing Guimaraes to a long-term deal.

“Newcastle will have done their sums and will have a budget for their wage bill,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.

“They will stick to that because they know they are under a huge amount of scrutiny following the takeover.

“Therefore, they have to ensure they are on the right side of the Financial Fair Play line.

“As far as Guimaraes’ new contract is concerned, the alternative to that is letting him go, and then Newcastle wouldn’t necessarily get maximum value from selling him.

“So giving Guimaraes a big pay rise could actually be saving money for Newcastle rather than letting him continue at his current wage and selling him at a discount.

“On top of that, Newcastle would then have to find a replacement who would also expect to be given high wages.“

In other news, Newcastle United reach £40m agreement after player dispute