Sevilla director José María Cruz de Andrés has revealed the reason why Diego Carlos did not join Newcastle United in the January transfer window.

The Brazilian stopper instead joined Aston Villa at the beginning of June, signing a four-year deal.

Speaking in an interview with Sport Witness, Carlos said: "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."