Sevilla’s director of football Monchi says Diego Carlos had “mental comings and goings” over “very strong” Newcastle offer.
Newcastle United made several bids for Brazilian centre-back Carlos, but despite the 29-year-old reportedly being interested, all the bids were rejected by his club Sevilla, who are second in La Liga.
The reason given was that Carlos is key to Sevilla’s defence, which is the strongest in La Liga, and they did not want to lose him during a title charge.
Former goalkeeper Monchi, who played for Sevilla and is now director of football at the club, has been speaking about the transfer attempt from the Spanish point of view.
As reported by La Colina de Nervion, via Sport Witness, Monchi said: "Newcastle’s effort for Diego Carlos has been very strong.
“They really went for it, but the club had an idea, a scenario, and they didn’t budge from that.
“Their offer was important, respectful, and even Diego has had his mental comings and goings, but he has ended up satisfied.”
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Newcastle have not been alone in their interest in the centre-back, with Tottenham Hotspur also reportedly keen toward the end of the transfer window, but they too were given a firm message.
Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano tweeted a couple of days before the transfer window closed: “Brazilian centre back Diego Carlos is not an option for Tottenham as things stand. Sevilla consider Diego ‘untouchable’ - club sources guarantee he’s staying.
“No swap deals, no cash proposals are currently on the table as Sevilla consider Diego a key player.”
Newcastle instead signed centre-back Dan Burn from Brighton.