“We didn’t want to sell Bruno,” Wilson said, when addressing journalists during a short on-the-record briefing on a balcony overlooking the golf course at the Grand Hyatt La Manga Club, where Newcastle’s training camp is taking place. “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. 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.
“We’d love Bruno Guimaraes to be in our squad this summer but I’m sure there are other clubs that have lost players that wish they were in their squads this season. It’s the world we live in, we had to adapt, we had to react. Having such an important player leave is disappointing but having a really important player who doesn’t want to play here anymore — for himself, he’s honest about that — it was the only decision we could make.”
“It was not the fee that I think Arsenal had hoped to pay and of course we would have liked an even higher number, ” Hopkinson said. “But I think you’re dealing with sophisticated actors on both sides and that’s what negotiation looks like.
“It’s a fee that satisfies us. If you want a put a merchandising spin on it, it’s the highest fee for a player in that position at that age.
“Is that a good deal for Newcastle United? I believe it is. But Arsenal is getting a very special player and special person so this works from a financial perspective for both sides.”
