New claim over Newcastle United's £35m Boubakary Soumare bid

The club had a £35million bid for the midfielder accepted by Lille last month – but the player rejected a move to St James’s Park.

Soumare, according to head coach Steve Bruce, wanted to stay at the Ligue 1 club and reassess his options in the summer.

“I think with him it was just to keep his options open,” said Bruce. “He's only young, and there's a lot of top clubs who have been linked with him. You've got to respect the decision. At the death, it was, 'we want to keep our options open until the summer'. He changed his mind.”

L’Equipe have now claimed that Newcastle had asked Allan Saint-Maximin, signed from Nice last summer, to FaceTime Soumare to show him the club’s facilities as he mulled over a move to England. The 20-year-old reportedly “declined” the invitation.