Newcastle United sporting director Ross Wilson has admitted Bruno Guimaraes’ move to Arsenal was the one thing they hadn’t planned for ahead of the summer transfer window.
Bruno Guimaraes completed a big-money transfer to Arsenal in early August, after a summer of speculation that the Newcastle United captain could be set to make the switch to north London.
But the saga seemingly took Newcastle by surprise, as club sporting director Ross Wilson admits it was the only thing that happened that wasn’t part of their plan for the summer.
“There is no point us pretending otherwise – we did not want to lose Bruno Guimaraes,” Wilson said. “That was really disappointing that we got to that place in the end.
“We were happy where we got to in terms of numbers but that was not part of our plan. But everything else that happened during the window was part of the plan.
As for why Newcastle eventually relented to Arsenal’s pursuit and allowed Guimaraes to leave, Wilson suggested part of succeeding in England is accepting that players will come and go.
“If you want to be a successful club in the Premier League, you have to trade players and if you don’t the chances are you won’t be a successful club in the Premier League,” Wilson argued.
“If you don’t do it, then just keep the squad you’ve got and forevermore they’ll grow old, achieve less and leave for nothing.”
Newcastle did receive a good fee for Guimaraes, bringing in £75m as a fixed amount with no add-ons, though they did lose some of that money to the player’s former clubs in sell-on clauses.
But the club were evidently hoping to keep their captain for the remainder of his prime years, and they ended up having to strengthen a Premier League rival instead.
Guimaraes hasn’t been heavily involved with Arsenal in competitive action so far, only playing 89 minutes across three appearances in the opening five games. A couple of minor injuries have prevented the 28-year-old from being more involved.
Even so, there have been very positive signs when the Brazil international has been on the pitch. When he gets going, Arsenal could be a frightening opponent for almost any team.
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