José María Cruz de Andrés has told Sport Witness the reasons Sevilla agreed to sell Diego Carlos to Aston Villa in May, months after refusing an offer from Newcastle United in the January window.
The Magpies made firm efforts to secure the centre-back’s services at the start of this year, after they failed to sign Lille’s Sven Botman. Eddie Howe’s side made convincing proposals to both the Andalusian club and Carlos.
Despite all this, Newcastle couldn’t take the Brazilian, who will play in the Premier League next season at Aston Villa. José María Cruz de Andrés, the La Liga club’s general manager and secretary of the board of directors, revealed Newcastle made a good offer to Sevilla in the winter market.
When asked whether the La Liga side sold their defender to Aston Villa to balance their books, months after rejecting an offer from Newcastle, the director told Sport Witness: “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.”
