Newcastle United's hunt for centre backs has been one of the most publicised sagas of this season's January transfer window.
Eddie Howe's side have been struggling terribly at the back and it's thought that they would like to sign two new centre backs this month. Having thrown away a vital lead against Watford last week, where Jamaal Lascelles was beaten far too easily in the air by teenage forward Joao Pedro, they had targeted bringing in at least one in time to face Leeds United this Saturday.
However, Leeds have been boosted by the fact that time has ticked on this week, with no sign of the Magpie's transfer chase progressing.
Sevilla's Diego Carlos was the number one target but Newcastle has suffered a blow in their pursuit of the Brazilian as he publicly stated he didn't expect to leave the Spanish club.
"I have a lot of time left here (in Seville)," Carlos said on Ultima Hora, a popular show on Spanish TV.
Meanwhile, Sevilla's assistant manager Pablo Sanz said, "I think Diego Carlos will be until the end of the season."
Newcastle are thought to have bid €36million, whilst Sevilla have set the defender's price tag at €50million. Should they manage to convince Carlos to leave Spain, they have some way to go in order to reach a deal with the Seville club.
Whilst they may manage to do this before the end of the transfer window, it seems highly unlikely that any deal would be agreed in time for the defender to face Leeds at Elland Road this weekend, particularly when considering that it took several days for Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood to sign their contracts and be announced as Newcastle players following fees being agreed for them to move to St James' Park.
