A lot of Newcastle United fans have replied to a story in the Evening Chronicle about Boubakary Soumare.
The Lille midfielder was supposedly the subject of a huge bid from Newcastle in January, but the 20-year-old turned down the move in favour of remaining in Ligue 1.
Did Newcastle ever have a chance of signing Soumare?
Yes
No
The article claims that many in Newcastle now have doubts over revisiting the move in the summer because Soumare turned them down in January.
This has received a big response from these Toon fans who agree that Soumare won’t join because he doesn’t want to play for them.
NEW: Why #NUFC have doubts about revisiting a move for Boubakary Soumarehttps://t.co/lEQCjQonmb
— The Chronicle (@ChronicleNUFC) February 21, 2020
Because he doesn’t want to play for us?
— ???? (@itsadampalmer) February 21, 2020
That article doesn’t really explain anything about why they wouldn’t try sign him again apart from the player actually not wanting to go in the first place.
— Damien Coughlan (@dynamodamo) February 21, 2020
Is it because he’s not interested?
— Moggy45 (@john19551969) February 21, 2020
Because he seen training ground
— Stuart Cowie (@Stuart72584324) February 21, 2020
Other Newcastle supporters believe that the price of the deal will put the Toon off.
They don’t have the money and never did
— Chris (@ChrisTindle78) February 21, 2020
Because we might have to pay out the going rate? Always say inflated fees but never hear a peep about inflated TV income. Funny that ?#nufc
— Mark Tserkezie (@MTserkezie) February 21, 2020
It’s obvious they knew the deal was impossible to do in jan and now its possible due to his form they have doubts. Lets be honest it’s a deal they never wanted to do but it became the #nufc topic as the window closed even though we had one fit striker with 1 goal all season
— Scott Ilderton (@scottilderton) February 21, 2020
What do we think?
Soumare, who is valued at £24.3m by Transfermarkt, has made 19 league appearances for Lille this season and averages a match rating of 6.51, as per WhoScored.
However, he has not played in Lille’s last four matches with some reports suggesting this is because he refused to leave for Newcastle.
If the Toon did bid that much for a central midfielder, why they did not offer that much for a striker – considering their only forward to have scored in the Premier League is Joelinton with one goal – seems quite baffling.
Surely, that was an area where money needed to be spent, rather than on a midfielder.