‘Stick it up your jumper’ - Spanish expert’s insight into Newcastle United target Diego Carlos & Sevilla’s price tag

Sevilla want £50million for Newcastle United’s prime target Diego Carlos.

That’s according to well-renowned Spanish football expert Graham Hunter, who spoke to NewcastleWorld about the Brazilian.

Carlos has emerged as a key transfer priority for the club’s new owners having been left frustrated in their efforts to sign Lille’s Sven Botman.

However, like Botman, the Magpies have also struggled to strike a deal with Sevilla over their star ma as they look to bolster a defence that has conceded 43 Premier League goals.

Indeed, United remain hopeful of a breakthrough before the deadline in 11 days time. So, what if Carlos is to end up on Tyneside? What type of player would they be getting?

‘Carlos would cope with Premier League’

Hunter said: “Diego Carlos isn’t world-class because in the modern game, we now look a lot at the skills on the ball a central defender has. For a lot of coaches, it’s paramount if not a close second to how they defend. Carlos is not outlandishly good at that.

“Where he ticks all the other boxes would be that not every central defender who thrives in La Liga would then do well in the Premier League.

“Carlos has the attributes in terms of height, power, speed. The things the Premier League throws at you, he’d be able to cope with.

“I think he is a decent defender, and he’s probably at a level above every defender Newcastle have got now or had recently.

“But he’s thrived in Sevilla’s team for two reasons... it’s an extremely organised team defensively. They defend from the front, there’s a lot of harassing, pressing and chasing. The defence are often asked to defend in situations that are reasonably under control.

“And next to him, he’s got a really good partner in Jules Kounde. If Newcastle get their man, you wouldn’t have me saying ‘this a top four/five defender in the world but top 10-12, maybe so’.

‘Sevilla looking for nothing less than 60m euros’

Hunter continued: “The buyout clause, that is upwards of 80million, I think it is 85m. It’s a marker for a powerful selling club to say ‘don’t be offering 50m below the buyout clause or you can just stick it up your jumper.’

“If Sevilla do sell, I’ve been tipped within the club that they’re looking for is nothing less than 60m euros (£50m).

“Given where the market is, and given how difficult it is to sign a like-for-like replacement, it would just about be Sevilla kissing goodbye to a reasonable chance of winning their first Spanish title since 1946.”