Newcastle United sporting director Ross Wilson says they never intended to sell Bruno Guimaraes, but their "very emotional" captain wanted to leave.

Guimaraes looks set to join Arsenal in a £75m deal, a move he asked the club for, having said farewell to his Newcastle team-mates and left their pre-season training camp in Spain.

The breakthrough talks between the clubs came at the end of last month, while Guimaraes reportedly completed his medical at the Emirates on Thursday.

The Brazilian has been at Newcastle since January 2022, making 195 appearances in all competitions in that time, but Wilson confirmed he is heading for the exit door.

"What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, he effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on," he said.

1 - Bruno Guimarães has won more duels (1,030) and fouls (410) than any other player in the Premier League since making his debut in February 2022, while the only central midfielder to cover more distance than the Brazilian (1,641km) is Declan Rice (1, 703km).

Pivot? pic.twitter.com/pt3ULcM0Dd

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 5, 2026

"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.

"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."

Guimaraes is set to be the fourth big name leaving St. James' Park this summer, following Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Eddie Howe out of the door.

It also follows the at-the-time British-record transfer of Alexander Isak to Liverpool last year.