'The player was desperate to sign' - Reporter sheds light on 'very late' NUFC Jan transfer blow

Sky Sports presenter Pete Graves has been speaking on the Loaded HQ YouTube channel about Newcastle United’s failed January pursuit of Diego Carlos.

During the January transfer window, it was obvious that Eddie Howe and Newcastle United were desperate to improve their backline, with three new defenders eventually arriving in the form of Kieran Trippier, Matt Targett and Dan Burn.

The latter two arrived on Deadline Day in a bit of a scramble for the Magpies to get sufficient bodies into the squad after a month-long saga of tracking Sevilla centre-back Diego Carlos, who, despite reports suggesting he even handed in a transfer request in an attempt to join Newcastle, ended up staying with the La Liga outfit.

Graves, though, has revealed how confident he was that Carlos was going to join the Magpies in January.

He said: “I genuinely thought that Carlos was going to sign. I did until very late because the player was desperate to sign, as was [Sven] Botman.”

TIF Thoughts on Diego Carlos…

At the time, it appeared that Newcastle were putting all of their eggs in one basket when it came to their search for a centre-back after being knocked back by Lille for Sven Botman, so when they didn’t land Carlos, fans may well have felt a bit in no man’s land. However, the signing of Burn appears to have been an astute piece of business for just £13m, as he currently boasts the third-best WhoScored rating within the squad.

While Carlos would have arrived with big-game experience, as a big name within the game and as a Brazil international, there are no guarantees that he would have been a good fit for the Premier League and improved them as much as Burn has.

In other news: Newcastle now handed boost as image emerges out of Darsley Park

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