Newcastle offer £35m Liverpool target two guarantees ahead of summer bid

Newcastle are ready to renew their interest in Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare this summer, as they look to beat Liverpool and Manchester United to the player.

The Magpies, who failed with a £35million bid to land the player in the January transfer window, are expected to face strong competition from the Reds and United for the 20-year-old come the end of the current campaign.

Newcastle still face a potential problem, however, if they are to bring in Soumare after it was revealed that the player turned down the opportunity to move to St James’ Park after a bid had been accepted for his services.

Indeed, speaking at the time, Steve Bruce said: “We had a bid accepted by a club which would have nearly got to a club-record transfer.

“Unfortunately the player wanted to stay where he was which was a big disappointment as he was our number one target.

“We were really active but we couldn’t get it over the line.”

According to Le 10 Sport, the Magpies will offer Soumare a key guarantee of playing time if he accepts a switch to St James’ Park, something he may not get at Anfield or Old Trafford, with Newcastle ready to double his current salary to £1.67million (€2m) per season after tax.

Talk of a summer exit for Soumare was heightened after the player was left out of Lille’s squad for Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Marseille amid “tension” at the club.

 

Lille boss Christophe Galtier said: “There is a situation at the club that I do not comment on.

“In seasons, there can be tension between a player and his club.

“We’ll settle this internally and find a solution.”

Newcastle are back in action this weekend when they head to Crystal Palace looking for three points to edge them nearer to the 40-point mark that would almost certainly guarantee them Premier League football again next season.