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Newcastle sporting director Ross Wilson has admitted the club had no intention of selling Bruno Guimaraes this summer, but said the midfielder made it clear that he wanted to move on.

Guimaraes is edging closer to a switch to Arsenal after four years at St James’ Park, with the two clubs agreeing a fee believed to be in the region of £75m.

Wilson maintained that the Brazil international’s departure was never part of Newcastle’s plans, with the midfielder having been a central figure and club captain during his spell at St James’ Park.

“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,” Wilson said.

“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.”

However, Wilson disclosed that Guimaraes had communicated his wish to leave, which ultimately affected the club’s thinking when it came to listening to offers.

“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,” he added.

“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,” he said.

“But we have got to be flexible and react to things that happen.”