Sevilla’s director of football has confirmed that negotiations over Diego Carlos’ potential move to Newcastle are ‘finished’ – for now – but says a summer move to St James’ Park may still be on the cards.
Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, commonly known as Monchi, has revealed that we made a ‘good offer’, however it seems the club have decided to turn down our latest bid.
He claims that it ‘wasn’t the right time’ for them to sell the Brazilian, knowing it would’ve been very difficult for them to find a replacement over the final week of the transfer window – and a risky move when they are currently 2nd in La Liga and fighting Real Madrid for the title.
That said, he’s stated that ‘things may change’ if the same offer comes his way over the summer, suggesting it was the right offer at the wrong time, and that the door is open for a future move to NUFC.
Here’s what he told the i’s Mark Douglas when asked where the deal stands at present:
“The Newcastle offer was a good offer, a respectable offer. I have to say that,”
“But the offer, our board and management team thought it wasn’t enough. It’s true that maybe it wasn’t the right time. It’s a difficult market to find a replacement for a player like Diego Carlos.
“It’s a market that takes place over a very short period of time. Maybe if that offer comes along in the summer then things might have changed.
“The offer was a very good offer, a very respectable offer but not at the best possible time.”
Monchi then revealed Diego Carlos’ current stance, insisting he is ‘happy’ as of Thursday morning – despite claims he handed in an official transfer request last week:
“I was talking to Diego this morning and he’s happy.
“At the end of the day he’s staying here at his club, a club that really wanted him.
“If he was really angry then maybe he would have changed his opinion but he seems happy.”
The Spaniard then confirmed that discussions with our new owners were respectful, saying our first bid was ‘a month ago’ but the negotiation is ‘finished’…at least for now:
“We’ve had conversations based on a lot of respect. 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.”
Fair comments from Monchi, however I think he may have missed his chance to get a big fee for Carlos, as I don’t see us coming back with the same sort of offer in the summer.
If we do manage to stay up, I’d expect us to us to bid less for the Brazilian, who will be knocking on the door of 30 come the end of the season and six months closer to the end of his contract – not to mention the fact we won’t be in such a desperate position to negotiate!
Another greedy club trying to milk the club dry almost as **** as man uniteds behaviour over LIngaard
Barry+Mark+Hogan(Quote)