Newcastle claims Guimaraes wanted Arsenal move
Newcastle United sporting director Ross Wilson has revealed the club never intended to sell Bruno Guimaraes, but the captain wanted to leave.
Guimaraes looks set to join Arsenal in a £75 million ($143.2 million) deal, a move he asked the club for, having said farewell to his Newcastle team-mates and left their pre-season training camp in Spain.
The breakthrough talks between the clubs came at the end of last month, while Guimaraes reportedly completed his medical at the Gunners on Friday (AEST).
The Brazilian has been at Newcastle since January 2022, making 195 appearances in all competitions in that time, but Wilson confirmed he is heading for the exit door.
"What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, he effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on," he said.
"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.
"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."
Guimaraes is set to be the fourth big name leaving St. James' Park in the current transfer window, following Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and manager Eddie Howe out of the exit door.
It also follows the at-the-time British-record transfer of Alexander Isak to Liverpool last year.
