Newcastle United reportedly made a late move for Lucien Agoume this week.
According to FC Inter News, Newcastle United launched a late move to sign Sochaux midfielder Lucien Agoume – but couldn’t stop him from joining Inter Milan.
Agoume, 17, has come up through the Sochaux ranks, and despite being born in Cameroon, he’s been picking up caps for France at youth level.
The 6ft 1in midfielder has earned comparisons to Paul Pogba, and he even made 16 first-team appearances for the Ligue 2 side this season, with his performances attracting major interest.
Agoume is now set to sign for Inter in a three-year deal, but it’s claimed that Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez made a late attempt to lure the midfielder to St James’ Park instead.
It’s believed that Newcastle offered up a deal worth €8million (£7million) for Agoume, but the teenager wasn’t to be swayed, and maintained that he’s joining Inter.
On the face of it, a move to joining a European giant makes sense. Agoume has picked Inter over Manchester City, Barcelona and Juventus, feeling he’ll get more first-team football at the San Siro.
Yet the addition of Newcastle into the mix seems strange. It’s well documented at this point that Newcastle can’t really bring in any signings until Benitez’s future is sorted, so the idea of him playing such a key role in a move for Agoume is interesting to say the least.
Newcastle may still feel that signing a top talent like Agoume is worth pushing for no matter who their manager is, as the player would be at St James’ Park for a long time, but this is certainly one of the stranger Newcastle rumours this summer.
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