Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe's response to Bruno Guimaraes Real Madrid ‘conversation’

The 14-time European champions shortlisted the Brazilian as a potential replacement for Casemiro, who joined Manchester United in the summer. While Guimaraes admitted a ‘conversation’ did take place between the two parties, it went no further.

“It’s nice, Real Madrid is the best team in the world so it’s nice,” the 24-year-old said after netting a brace in a 5-1 win over Brentford on Saturday. “It was just a conversation but it’s nothing.”

Guimaraes went on to reaffirm his commitment to Newcastle as he added: "I want to keep going and to be a legend here, could be great.

"This will be one of the best projects in the world, I believe this is just the beginning.”

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe also addressed the rumours linking Guimaraes to Madrid back in August, but was quick to play things down.

“Absolutely not [wanting to lose Guimaraes], we're trying to build a squad here that we feel can take the club to be successful over the next few years and we want to build that squad and enhance the group, not taking away our best players,” Howe said.

“It shows how special he is. Regarding speculation, I've got no problem with it as such.

"I think it's a compliment to Bruno and how well he's done for us. He's been incredible I think and he's only going to get better from this point. He's a very valuable member of our team."