Newcastle United sporting director Ross Wilson admitted that the club “didn’t want to sell” captain Bruno Guimaraes.
The 28-year-old completed a £75million move to north London, with an official announcement expected from the Gunners soon.
There has been a mass exodus from St James’ Park so far this window, with Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali both departing the club.
Eddie Howe also followed after resigning last week, being replaced by Matthias Jaissle.
Speaking about the Guimaraes situation, Wilson said: “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.
“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.
Newcastle’s sporting director admitted they ‘didn’t want to sell Bruno Guimaraes’
| PA
“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.”
Guimaraes departed before Jaissle spoke with the Brazilian, briefly crossing paths with Newcastle’s new manager during the club’s training camp in Spain earlier this week.
The Brazilian said an emotional goodbye to his teammates and staff, with Jaissle admitting there was little he could do to change the situation.
The Newcastle skipper is poised to join Arsenal
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He said: “I met him quickly, but the decision was already made.
“It was a nice conversation. He’s a fantastic player and a great human being.
“It’s tough but for him now it’s the next challenge and we need to deal with it at a later stage.
“We trust the players who are here already, but we will also see some changes.”
Jaissle revealed Bruno Guimaraes’ Newcastle departure had already been decided before the pair held their first conversation
| GETTY
Jaissle is, however, determined to embrace Newcastle’s changing landscape rather than dwell on the stars who have left.
“This is a challenge, and there are so many transitions at the moment,” the 38-year-old said.
“Many big players left – legends of the club – but we need to see it as a chance.
“Not having too many excuses now, just thinking forward about what we can influence.
“Control the controllables, I used to say, and I’m sure there will be progress this season.”
