Report: 'Contact made' by Premier League clubs over the transfer of £100m Newcastle man

Here we go again. The Bruno Guimaraes rumour mill is back at it full tilt as we edge ever nearer to the start of the transfer window.

Newcastle United and Bruno Guimaraes have done pretty much all they can do to make their stance crystal clear regarding the future of the Brazilian, but journalists just can't seem to help themselves.

Caught Offside have come up with an 'exclusive' that Manchester City and Arsenal have made contact with Bruno's people over a summer switch via journalist Ben Jacobs.

The good old £100million release clause has been brought up again with zero regards for the facts surrounding that clause.

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The facts won't get in the way of a good story

While the existence of a £100million release clause in Bruno's contract is indeed true, there are some very specific criteria attached to it that is very important, especially in this case.

No Premier League clubs can activate that clause for one, so that's Arsenal and Man City screwed already, also the clause becomes active at the end of this month and lasts until the end of June, before the next Financial Fair Play reporting period starts, so if a club were to try and activate the clause, they'd need the £100million left over in this season's budget, or some pretty impressive negotiating skills to convince Newcastle to wait for payment.

All of that is pretty strong evidence that Arsenal and Man City are peeing into the wind if they have indeed made contact, but more importantly is what we said right up top - the club and the player have made it abundantly clear that a move this summer simply isn't on the cards.

We're braced for many more reports like this

Newcastle missing out on Champions League football this season seems to be all the ammunition journalists need to keep this story ticking over, but frankly it's just getting ridiculous now.

We know for a fact that this won't be the end of it, we even said that after Howe made it clear that nobody at the club has any intention of selling Bruno or indeed Alexander Isak who comes in for similar treatment from the media.

As much we all love the transfer silly season, it can be frustrating when facts aren't taken into account over the need for a good story. I suppose the upside is that we get linked with players from clubs who probably have fans writing very similar things to what we do about our top players. Time will obviously tell if our confidence has been misplaced.