'Well planned': Eddie Howe says Bruno Guimaraes' release clause was well structured by the club

It was revealed on Thursday that the £100million release clause in Bruno Guimaraes' contract has a very specific window in which it can be activated.

Respected journalist Fabrizio Romano shared that the release clause, which has been a huge cause for concern among Newcastle United fans, has a very short period of time that it's actually active.

The clause is active from the last week in May to the last week of June, after which control over Bruno's price tag and all negotiations reverts to the club. It was a genius move by the club as it means that the clause closes before the new Financial Fair Play reporting year begins, so unless there's a club out there with £100million left in their 2023/24 budget, then they're pretty much guaranteed that the clause won't be activated.

Rumours have suggested that Paris Saint-Germain are in talks with Bruno's people, but we'd be very surprised if anything comes of that.

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Eddie Howe himself seems quite relaxed on the issue and was calm with his response when pushed on the subject at this morning's press conference (via Football365).

“When it’s something you don’t necessarily have control over, I don’t tend to worry about it.

“It goes without saying what my thoughts on the Bruno situation are. We want to keep him, we want to build our team around him and he’s an integral part of what we are doing.

“His form has been very good, he seems very happy and settled, he will be thinking about a busy summer ahead and where we can hopefully take the team. He is a big part of that.

“We are not in control of that, so we shall see.”

Howe was then questioned specifically on the release clause.

“Having that was well planned and structured by the club, in a sense that there is a finish point. We don’t want the constant speculation, I don’t think that’s healthy for the player or for us.”

As confident as we are that Bruno Guimaraes will stay at Newcastle for next season, we're even more confident that the expiration of the release clause will be far from the end of the constant speculation Howe is so desperate to avoid.