Newcastle may be forced to cash in on Bruno Guimaraes amid Real Madrid transfer interest, says Dan Ashworth
NEWCASTLE chiefs admit they may cash in on superstars like Bruno Guimaraes to fund their title dreams.
The Brazil midfielder signed from Lyon for £35million in January but revealed “conversations” with Real Madrid during the summer.
Fan favourite Bruno, 24, is loving life on Tyneside but has made it clear he expects Champions League football soon.
And Magpies transfer chief Dan Ashworth said: “I absolutely do not want to sell Bruno.
“He is a top player and a really important part of the journey.
“But, at some stage, you have to trade as one of the things around Financial Fair Play.
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“We have to be able to generate some money to reinvest and go again.
“You can never control when a club or an opportunity comes knocking for a player that maybe has an aspiration they have always wanted to do.
“It might be a certain city in the world, it might be a club or it might be a country.
“I can’t lie and say we’ll never have to sell a player and that we’ll always be able to hold onto our top talent.
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“You have to sometimes make a pragmatic decision and go, ‘Okay, we’ll do that because that’s a way of reinvesting in the football club’.
“Ultimately, at what level do you sell him?”
Newcastle have jumped from 19th to sixth over 12 months of Saudi ownership, spending more than £200m on transfers along the way.
And Ashworth knows breaking into the Champions League is key for the Magpies to be able to keep their best players.
He added: “As a rule of thumb, I would like to think we’ll be able to hold onto our top talent in order to drive our ambitions for driving up the league and competing for cups.
“The Premier League is the most attractive league in the world.
“That gives you a fantastic start and if you are playing in Europe and you have the size and aspiration, it’s possible.”