Newcastle United are reportedly still keen to bring £50m target Boubakary Soumare to the Premier League and the midfielder looks destined to leave Lille.
Newcastle United are on the charm offensive as they look to convince Lille star Boubakary Soumare to join in the summer, with Le10 Sport claiming that the Magpies are willing to guarantee him game-time and double his wages.
A player who left Paris Saint-Germain on a free in 2017 will be one of the most coveted players in Europe by the time the summer rolls around.
Some of the continent’s biggest clubs, from Real Madrid to Manchester United, Liverpool to Chelsea, have been mentioned as a potential destination for an all-action midfielder who, at the age of just 20, appears to have the world at his feet.
Newcastle, then, were always up against it from the beginning.
The Magpies made a stunning £50 million, club-record bid for Soumare during the January transfer window but the France U21 international turned down the chance to join a club stuck in mid-table mediocrity.
But Newcastle, to their credit, are not willing to give up just yet.
According to Le10 Sport, the North East outfit are desperate to show Soumare that they mean business, offering the deep-lying play-maker assurances over his game-time while promising to hand him a £30,000-a-week contract; twice the sum he currently takes home at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Of course, the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, who have also been linked by Le10 Sport, are capable of dwarfing that £30,000-a-week deal quite comfortably. But it’s the ‘game-time’ element which could give Newcastle a telling advantage.
After all, the last thing Soumare needs right now is to find himself stuck on the bench. And if Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and co are struggling for starts, what chance would this 20-year-old rising star realistically have of ousting Fabinho or Jordan Henderson at Anfield?
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