Newcastle had £35m bid for Boubakary Soumare accepted but Lille star turned them down amid Chelsea transfer interest – The Sun

NEWCASTLE failed in a £35million move for Boubakary Soumaré after the Lille midfielder turned them down.

Steve Bruce revealed they were close to smashing their transfer record but was left disappointed after their “number one” target rejected the move.

The Toon Army’s current record is the £40m they splashed out on Brazilian striker Joelinton in the summer.

Soumare, 20, came through the PSG academy and has been at Lille since 2017.

Bruce said: "We had a bid accepted that would have been near enough a club record but the player didn't want to come.

"We got past the club but unfortunately the player wanted to stay where he was.

"We couldn't get it over the line and that was a big disappointment."

Soumaré was in the middle of a transfer tug-of-war between Premier League rivals Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham before Newcastle got involved.

And according to L'Equipe, Tottenham have swooped in and made the first move by launching an official bid for the Frenchman.

Jose Mourinho’s assistant coach Joao Sacramento previously working with Soumare when he was a coach at Lille.

Soumare, who played against Chelsea in the Blues 2-1 win over Lille in the Champions League knockout stages, is a box-to-box midfielder.

He is more of a defensive presence and prides himself on his ball recovery and general distribution.

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