Newcastle United chief sends message to Arsenal over Bruno Guimaraes transfer

Bruno Guimaraes is set to join Arsenal for £75m (Getty)

Newcastle United sporting director, Ross Wilson, admits the club had not planned to sell Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal this summer.

Arsenal agreed a £75 million transfer fee with Newcastle earlier this week after weeks of negotiations for the Brazil international.

Newcastle were unhappy with Arsenal’s lack of direct talks over a deal for Guimaraes after their opening bid of £55m was communicated through intermediaries.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Wilson revealed that Guimaraes had asked to leave Newcastle this summer, which played a key role in the club’s decision to reach an agreement with Arsenal.

‘We didn’t want to sell Bruno,’ Wilson said.

‘It wasn’t in the plan. He’s our captain, he was very important to us and the debate over his price… it’s a world-record fee for a [midfielder] of his age.

Bruno Guimaraes asked to leave Newcastle United this summer (Getty)

‘What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally, he effectively told us he wanted to leave. That doesn’t mean he can go, but it plays a part in our thinking when we hit a certain number.