Newcastle Targets Højbjerg as Guimarães Replacement

Newcastle United have moved quickly to fill the void left by Bruno Guimarães, with Olympique de Marseille midfielder Pierre-Emile Højbjerg now edging towards a return to the Premier League in a deal worth around €15 million, according to Foot Mercato.

It is a pragmatic move. Not a headline-chasing marquee signing, but the kind of hard-edged, reliable midfielder managers build game plans around. At 31, Højbjerg brings years of top-level experience and a profile that fits neatly into the gap Guimarães leaves behind.

For Newcastle, the timing matters. Guimarães’ departure to Arsenal stripped the midfield of its organiser and enforcer in one stroke. The club want this deal wrapped up this week, a clear sign of how urgently they view the need to restore balance in the centre of the pitch.

On the other side of the deal, Marseille’s motivations are just as sharp. OM’s management have been working under tight financial constraints, needing to generate funds to stabilise the club’s accounts. An agreement at this price would not only bring in a useful fee, it would also ease the wage bill and give them some room to manoeuvre in the market.

That financial reality collides with the sporting one. Højbjerg has been anything but a bit-part player in Marseille. Since arriving on the Canebière two years ago, he has become one of the pillars of the squad.

In his first season, he started all 32 of his appearances, an ever-present in the XI and a symbol of the coach’s trust. The second campaign only reinforced that status: 43 appearances, 40 of them from the start, and eight outings in the Champions League. Those are the numbers of a player a club usually builds around, not one it willingly lets go.

Yet the market dictates. Marseille need to “replenish their coffers”; Newcastle need a seasoned midfielder who knows the tempo and physical demands of English football. The pressure on both clubs has pushed this negotiation towards the finish line.

For Højbjerg, the move would mark a familiar journey. He knows the Premier League’s grind from his spells at Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, where he carved out a reputation as a combative, disciplined presence in front of the defence. This would not be a leap into the unknown but a return to a stage he understands.

If the deal is completed in the coming days, Newcastle will have their Guimarães replacement: not a like-for-like stylistically, but a leader who can steady the midfield and set a platform for the club’s attacking talents.

Marseille, meanwhile, will have to answer a harsher question: how do you replace a player who rarely left the team sheet, when you are selling him not from sporting ambition but financial necessity?