Sevilla director José María Cruz de Andrés has revealed the reason why Diego Carlos did not join Newcastle United in the January transfer window. Carlos was one of the Magpies’ top centre backs targets during the winter but could not get the deal over the line, instead bringing in Dan Burn from Brighton.
And even though Sevilla held firm in January regarding their key centre back, Carlos has already made an exit from the Spanish side this summer. Aston Villa, who have already made three new signings this summer, moved in swiftly to secure his services at the beginning of this month on a four-year-deal.
Given how quickly Steven Gerrard’s side were able to move on Carlos this summer, eyebrows will have been raised among Newcastle supporters about why they could not get a deal done. However, in an interview with Sport Witness, Cruz de Andrés has explained exactly why – pointing to Sevilla’s league position in January, and Villa’s ‘better’ financial offer.
He said: “No, the real reason is we received a good offer in the winter market from Newcastle for Diego. At that time, the player and the agent were very interested in the offer because it was a very good offer for them in terms of time of employment and salary for the player, and commission for the agent.
“We received a good offer from Newcastle, from a financial standpoint. But the problem was it was in the middle of the season and Carlos was very, very important at that time for us. We had no chance to replace Carlos [in January]. We had been suffering a lot during the season with many injuries, especially defenders.
“At the time, we were competing to win the league and had a chance to win the Europa League again, after being eliminated from the Champions League. The main reason to not accept the [Newcastle’s] offer was that it was not at the proper time.
“At the end of the season, we received a new offer from a different team. It was probably better than the first one for the player.
“He told us that we said it was not possible to sell him in the winter market, but we didn’t promise to sell him in the summer. We told them that when the season finishes, we will surely analyse offers. There was an offer and this is the reason for selling Diego Carlos, because we didn’t need to sell Carlos to balance the books.
“We wanted to keep Diego Carlos with us, but we understand that a player like Diego, 29, 30 years, it was a very good opportunity, probably not sporting wise, but in terms of money. We respect that because we understand that Diego has played very well for us.”
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