Newcastle United miss out on 20-year-old Lille midfielder Boboukary Soumare despite accepted £35m bid

The Magpies haven’t completed a permanent signing in the January transfer window following the loan arrivals of Nabil Bentaleb, Valentino Lazaro and Danny Rose.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on deadline day, Newcastle manager Steve Bruce revealed: “We had bid accepted which would have almost got to our transfer record. But the player wanted to stay where he was.”

That accepted bid is believed to be in the region of £35-million for Soumare which could have potentially risen to a club record £45-million with bonuses and add-ons.

The 20-year-old signed for Lille on a free from Paris Saint Germain’s youth side in 2017 and has gone on to establish himself as an important first team player this campaign.

He has featured 51 times for Lille in the French top flight, scoring once.

While Bruce has missed out on the midfielder on this occasion, there is a chance he could revisit a move in the summer.

But after missing out on the likes of Olivier Giroud and Jarrod Bowen this month, putting in a near club record bid for a defensive midfielder is bound to raise a few eyebrows with a forward supposed to be the priority.

Any further incomings at St. James’ Park are unlikely though the likes of Ki Sung-yueng and Christian Atsu could be leaving the club before the 11pm deadline.