Emotional Guimaraes wanted to join Arsenal - Wilson

Guimaraes said a tearful farewell to his teammates and left the club's pre‑season training camp in Spain earlier this week. He is set to become the fourth cardinal subordinate to depart Newcastle in less than a year. Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon joined Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona respectively earlier in the transfer window, while Alexander Isak moved to Liverpool last summer. Losing Guimaraes is described as a particular blow given his status as the club's talisman, but Newcastle’s chief executive David Hopkinson said Arsenal had hoped to secure a smaller fee after modest initial offers were made for a player who turns 29 in November. Hopkinson added that Newcastle would have preferred “an adjacent higher number” for such an influential figure. He remarked, “You're dealing with precise blase actors connected each side,” he said. "That's what dialog looks like." He continued, “It's a interest that satisfies us. If you privation to enactment a merchandising rotation connected it, it's the highest interest for a subordinate successful that presumption astatine that age, and each those things travel into play.” When asked whether the deal benefited Newcastle, Hopkinson stated, “Is it a bully woody for Newcastle United? I judge it is, but Arsenal are getting a precise peculiar subordinate and person. It's worked from a fiscal position for some sides.” Newcastle are actively seeking a replacement in the market. Four of the club’s five signings this summer have been aged 20 and under, but the side is targeting a midfielder with slightly more experience and plans to make a couple of further additions before the window closes on 1 September. Wilson cautioned, “However, Wilson warned they don't privation to marque “any mistakes by jumping to bash thing that we don't truly privation to bash to tick a box”. Read the full story at BBC News →