Newcastle United look set to sign the Lyon midfielder Bruno Guimaraes in January ahead of Arsenal.

In the early afternoon on Tuesday, Arsenal fan hopes of a move for Lyon’s Bruno Guimaraes were boosted as Sky Sports reported that the club hadn’t given up on trying to sign him.

Just hours later, those hopes were dashed by news of a bid from Newcastle United.

L’Equipe reported that Newcastle sent an official offer of €40m to Lyon on Tuesday. The player’s camp and Lyon didn’t give an immediate response, but they were thinking about it.

The French outlet added that both Arsenal and Juventus are following the midfielder, but neither made an official offer.

David Ornstein then reported that Guimaraes was set to hold a medical in Brazil ahead of the Newcastle transfer, with Lyon accepting the bid.

Now, it seems all is complete and good to go

Breaking | Bruno Guimarães to Newcastle – total agreement with Lyon as of this morning – €42.5m + €8m in bonuses in the event that NUFC avoid relegation. More follows. (L’Éq)

— Get French Football News (@GFFN) January 28, 2022

Loic Tanzi of RMC Sport reports that before the Newcastle bid, Arsenal had started to position themselves for Guimaraes. They were concerned about a lack of progress in their move for Arthur Melo, and reinitiated contact for the Lyon man as an alternative.

Fabrizio Romano reported on Wednesday morning that Guimaraes would decide his future in the coming hours, along with his agents.

It appears he’s now made that call.

From an Arsenal point of view, a couple of journalists have spoken out to cool talk of Gunners interest.

Sam Dean of The Telegraph claims there had been no formal offer or approach from Arsenal for Guimaraes yet.

James McNicholas added that Arsenal prefer other long-term midfield targets over the Lyon man as things stand, but that could change given the club’s short-term needs.

Newcastle’s move will push Arsenal to make a decision now, one way or the other.