Bruno Guimaraes shouldn’t have been able to engineer a nice Newcastle exit – his departure was no different to Alexander Isak.
That is the view from talkSPORT’s Inside The Toon host Shaun Custis, who believes the former Magpies captain conned the fans into believing that he was embedded as part of the Geordie nation.
Guimaraes has officially completed a £75million move to Arsenal 34 months into the five-year contract extension he signed at St James’ Park in October 2023.
The 28-year-old had agreed personal terms with the Gunners by the start of July and made steps to ensure the deal got over the line.
The Brazil international used super agent Kia Joorabchian to act as an intermediary to handle a lot of the day-to-day negotiating.
Such moves helped knock down Newcastle’s original £100m valuation of their captain, while Guimaraes also asked the club to delay his pre-season travel plans as a switch to north London edged closer.
After the deal was confirmed, the midfielder released an emotional statement labelling his Toon exit as one of his toughest decisions.
However, talkSPORT host and Magpies fan Custis took a withering verdict of the post, considering it’s stark contrast to his smiley-faced unveiling at his new club.
He told Sunday Edition: “Looks really upset to be joining Arsenal, because he also released a video which Newcastle United put out of being upset about leaving Newcastle and how sad he was and how he was half-Geordie, half-Brazilian, and we’ve achieved great things together. So he’s leaving…”
Custis was then asked whether the transfer was harder to swallow from someone like Guimaraes, who even had a Newcastle-esque tattoo on his calf to commemorate the club’s Carabao Cup triumph in 2025.
He replied: “I think it’s harder when you get the, ‘I’m a Geordie’, you’ve kissed the badge, ‘I’m the captain, I love you, we’re embedded here, it’s part of my life,’ et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
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“Let’s not pretend he’s just wanting to leave now because Eddie [Howe] left. He wanted to leave before the end of the season.
“We knew this was bubbling up. He was getting ready.”
Guimaraes claimed that his Newcastle exit came down to a ‘difference of ideas’ between himself and the club.
Asked whether Howe, who departed the Toon by mutual consent last month, would have stayed had his captain not been part of the recent exodus of Tyneside stars, Custis replied: “No, not particularly.
“I think he’d run his course. I don’t think that necessarily. I get they’re going a bit of a different direction, but you also need some experience as well.
“And we were, as usual, conned into believing that Bruno was embedded as part of the Geordie nation.”
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No better than Isak?
Guimaraes, who scored 30 goals and registered 25 assists in 153 Premier League appearances for Newcastle, led the dressing room charge against former teammate Isak 12 months ago.
The Swede infamously posted a bombshell statement after being named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year last August.
Isak referenced ‘broken promises’ at Newcastle and became public enemy No.1 at St James’ when he sealed a British transfer record £125m switch to Liverpool on deadline day.
Just minutes after the striker’s public statement, Guimaraes made his feelings clear by uploading a picture of himself in Newcastle’s kit.
Custis admitted he’s at a loss to explain how Guimaraes has now engineered a nice departure as opposed to an Isak-type departure.
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“Of course he is [more likely to win things at Arsenal]. But why sign a long contract then, saying you’re going to stay?
“It really does bother me this bit – [That fans believe that] there is much difference between what he did and what Isak did.
“Isak wanted to go, told Newcastle he wanted to go, but they said, ‘No, you can’t unless we get big, big money for you.’
“So he couldn’t move. Bruno says, ‘I want to go.’ And they go, ‘All right then, you can go.’
“Even though the manager says we didn’t want to let him go. And there was no question in our planning of allowing him to go.
“But he has somehow managed to engineer a nice departure as opposed to an Isak-type departure.
“Don’t pretend you’re embedded in the nation and that you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else and all of that.”
