New release clause revealed for Toon target – Summer move to NUFC looking increasingly unlikely?

We may have ended up with Dan Burn – who has been a revelation so far – but we spent the majority of the January transfer window pursuing Sevilla centre-back Diego Carlos.

Sevilla’s director of football, Monchi, admitted six weeks ago that we made a “very good offer”, also hinting that a summer deal could be possible if the same bid arrived at the end of the season.

However, it seems the La Liga side are planning to make life awkward for us once again if we go back in for the Brazilian this summer, with the transfer supremo now confirming that the 28-year-old has signed a new deal with the Spanish giants.

This not only protects his value and keeps him contracted to the club until 2025, but GOAL España report that the release clause inserted into his new deal stands at a whopping £67m.

It’s clear we won’t be paying this for a player who turns 29 next week and it’s also a move that could make Sevilla even more stubborn sellers. I suspect we won’t hang about this summer if they expect us to offer the same amount (or more) we were willing to pay a few months ago.

Speaking to Mucho Deporte, Monchi said: “We’ve renewed [the contracts of] Diego Carlos and [Lucas] Ocampos 14 months ago. We didn’t announce it for strategic reasons.”

With Burn shining, Botman heavily linked with a move to AC Milan and Carlos seeming increasingly likely to remain at Sevilla, it’ll be interesting to see how our pursuit of a new centre-back pans out in the coming months.