Newcastle United officials showed a 'lot of respect' during negotiations to sign Sevilla centre-back Diego Carlos.
That is the view of Monchi, Sevilla's highly-rated sporting director, who confirmed that the club had rejected a 'very good' offer from Newcastle for Carlos.
Carlos was one of Newcastle's top targets this month, especially after a move for Lille centre-back Sven Botman broke down, but Sevilla were understandably reluctant to lose the influential 29-year-old in the mid-season window.
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Although Carlos made it clear to Sevilla's hierarchy that he wanted to move to St James' Park, the La Liga title challenges held firm, knowing that it would be very difficult to secure a replacement in the final days of January.
Newcastle now face a race against time so sign a much-needed quality centre-back before the window closes on Monday night, but it remains to be seen if the Magpies bid for Carlos or, indeed, Botman again in the summer.
If Newcastle manage to stay up and make a fresh bid at the end of the season, clearly, Monchi would not be adverse to dealing with the club's owners and recruitment team once again.
“We’ve had conversations based on a lot of respect," he told the i. "They’ve understood that we can reject their offer.
“The first contact comes from the player’s agent. They said, ‘Maybe Newcastle are prepared to make an offer’.
“The first offer was a month ago. With Newcastle it’s been very correct the way it’s gone ahead. We’ve had video calls and each side has explained their view.
“We consider the negotiation finished because I don’t think we’re going to start negotiations again because we’re all clear how we think about this transfer.”
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