NEWCASTLE UNITED have not given up hope of signing Diego Carlos despite the defender appearing to commit himself to Spain for the remainder of the season – but with the Magpies’ talks with Sevilla having hit an impasse, an agreement ahead of Saturday’s game with Leeds United looks extremely unlikely.

Newcastle officials have spent the last fortnight trying to push through a deal for Carlos, but their hopes of engineering a successful signing suffered a blow last night when the Brazilian played the full 90 minutes of Sevilla’s draw with Valencia.

Despite suggestions that Carlos had submitted a transfer request in an attempt to force through a move, the centre-half spoke after the game at the Mestalla and said: “I have a lot of time left here (in Seville).”

Events took another turn this morning when the South American centre-half took to social media and appeared to laugh off suggestions that his comments meant he would not be moving to Newcastle this month.

That has sparked renewed hopes of a deal, and sources close to the ongoing discussions insist Newcastle’s recruitment team remain extremely hopeful of being able to sign Carlos before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

The Brazilian remains the club’s number one central-defensive target, even though talks with the Sevilla hierarchy have proved much more complicated than had originally been envisaged.

Discussions remain ongoing, although there is a growing acceptance that Carlos is extremely unlikely to be involved in Saturday’s game at Leeds, even if a deal can be pushed through in the next couple of days.

Similarly, while Newcastle continue to hold talks over Jesse Lingard’s future with the hierarchy at Manchester United, any agreement over the England international is unlikely to be reached in time for him to be involved at Elland Road.