Bruno Guimaraes has shared an emotional message to Newcastle fans after completing a move to Arsenal for £75million.
The 28-year-old joins the Gunners after winning the League Cup at St James’ Park and captaining the side in the Champions League.
The Brazilian addressed Newcastle fans on social media, saying how he “fell in love” with Tyneside.
He said: “This is one of the toughest decisions of my life. When I arrived, the club was in a challenging position, and I am incredibly proud of what we achieved together.
“I fell in love with this place. I really mean that. From my first day, the supporters, my teammates, Eddie [Howe] and the staff, and everyone connected with the club made me and my family feel at home.
“I thank PIF, our chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Jamie Reuben for everything they have done for me and for this football club.
“I also want to say thank you to David [Hopkinson] and Ross [Wilson] for the huge respect to me throughout this process.
“They did everything they could to keep me at Newcastle, and I am very grateful for our time together.”
Bruno Guimaraes has shared an emotional message with Newcastle fans
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Explaining why he moved to Arsenal, the midfielder said: “This move is very tough because Newcastle means so much to me, but I wanted to experience something new in my life. I feel ready for a new challenge for myself and my family.
“I had a very positive conversation with Matthias Jaissle, and I leave knowing the club is in very good hands.
“To the supporters, thank you will never be enough, but I say it with all my heart.
“I will always be proud to have been part of this club’s journey. Thank you for everything.”
The Brazilian joined Arsenal for a fee of £75million
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Newcastle’s sporting director Ross Wilson was very open about not wanting to sell the club’s captain, saying: “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.
“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.
There has been a mass exodus this summer at St James’ Park
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“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.”
