'£30m is an absolute bargain for Guimaraes'

Lyon's Brazil midfielder Bruno Guimaraes would be a bargain at £30m for Newcastle, according to French football expert Julien Laurens.

The Magpies have lodged a bid and hope to finalise the deal before transfer deadline day on Monday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Euro Leagues podcast, Laurens said: "It’s big for a few reasons.

"It’s big because he’s an excellent player. He’s a very intelligent, very aware, very classy, very elegant defensive midfielder who will dictate the pace of the game. I love this player and think he’s going to be fantastic with the right team around him.

"It’s big because I still think £30m is an absolute bargain. I’m not sure why Lyon are accepting this offer and why he has accepted to have talks with Newcastle. Not because Newcastle is not a big club.

"The money is four times what he is on now. When you earn £25,000 a week and you go straight to £100,000 a week at your age when you’ve just moved to Europe is pretty significant.

"If Newcastle can get him he’s an absolutely amazing signing for them. For him it’s a new adventure, very different to anything he’s known before in Brazil and in France. He will go from a team that is fighting to finish in the Champions League places in France and a top team that plays that level with players around him of this calibre as well, to a team that is fighting not to go down.

"I don’t know how he will respond to that on the pitch when the next game he has to go and be in a dog fight to just get a point because every point matters now. Good on him if he accepts and it seems from the latest that he is keen on going."

Hear more on Newcastle's pursuit of Guimaraes from 22'50 on BBC Sounds