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Bruno Guimaraes says Newcastle’s dressing-room does not want to see star players such as Alexander Isak leave the club in the future.
The £125million British-record sale of Isak to Liverpool this summer marked the first major departure of the club’s Saudi-led era.
Part of the striker’s motivation for wanting to leave was a concern over the direction of the club and the speed of the project being delivered by the ownership.
Guimaraes was asked ahead of the visit of Barcelona in the Champions League what the club can do to keep their best players at St James’ Park, and the captain said: ‘It’s a good question. You have the financial fair play and I don’t know if this affects things or not - I’m not under the table to see the circumstance to see what was going on. Football is business.
‘As a player, we don’t want to lose our best players, if you want to be successful. We have to improve our squad, and I think we did this very well in this summer - we look forward to go again.
'I want to win things. I have never changed my mind and I still look to make history at this club. We have been in the Champions League two times in the last three years, that is unbelievable for us. We have to keep that going. There is a big job for us to do here and I want to be part of this team.’
Bruno Guimaraes has stressed the importance of keeping hold of top players after the high profile exit of Alexander Isak
The Swedish star broke the British transfer record with his incendiary move to Liverpool
Guimaraes was speaking for the first time on the subject of Isak’s exit. The Brazilian was thought to be among those in the squad not happy by the Swede’s decision to go on strike, but he said: ‘I think football is business. I think the club made a choice. He’s gone and I wish him all the best. I am grateful for everything we achieved together.
‘But this is not the time to look at the past, it's time to look forward to the future at Newcastle. We have the Barca game and we are looking forward to it.’
Eddie Howe, meanwhile, has challenged his players to prove they are good enough to compete on the Champions League stage.
‘The players have to show that they’re good enough to play at this level and that they’re excelling at this level - playing (alone) isn’t good enough, we need our players to excel,’ he said. ‘There are benefits across the board in terms of qualifying, which is our first target. Financial, of course, but also showing the squad that we’re strong enough (to compete).'
