“It wasn’t in the plan to sell Bruno” — Newcastle bow to record fee as captain Guimaraes heads to Arsenal

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“It wasn’t in the plan to sell Bruno” — Newcastle bow to record fee as captain Guimaraes heads to Arsenal

Newcastle United sporting director Ross Wilson has admitted the club did not want to sell Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal.

Guimaraes is set to complete his transfer to Arsenal this weekend after undergoing a medical in North London. Arsenal haveagreed a £75m fee to sign the Newcastle captain, who informed the Magpies of his wish to leave this summer.

The 28-year-old is set to become the latest high-profile name to leave Newcastle this summer, following the sales ofAnthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, and the exit of head coach Eddie Howe.

Speaking to the media at Newcastle’s pre-season training camp in Spain, Wilson said the club have reluctantly sanctioned the sale of Guimaraes. He said the player's desire to leave, and a world-record fee for his age profile, persuaded the club to do business.

Wilson added that Newcastle now must adapt to a departure that was not part of the club's summer strategy.

“We have got to be flexible” — Newcastle forced to adapt after £75m Bruno Guimaraes exit to Arsenal​

“We didn’t want to sell Bruno. It wasn’t in the plan to sell Bruno. None of us — or ownership — wanted to sell Bruno," Wilson said.

“He’s our captain, he was very, very important to us and the debate over his price — it’s a world-record fee for a player of his age.

“What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on.

“That doesn’t mean he can go but it certainly plays a part in what our thinking is when we hit a certain range of number. But there’s no part in saying it was part of our strategy and was in our thinking this summer — it wasn’t.

“But we have got to be flexible and react to things that happen. It might have been in our plan to sign one player but we didn’t get him so we move on to another. We can only be honest about that.”

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