Newcastle are interested in young Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare but face stiff competition from two European giants, according to the Daily Star.
The newspaper claims that the Magpies are still in the race for the 20-year-old, but now face competition from Champions League quarter finalists Juventus and Tottenham Hotspur.
Le 10 Sport claimed in January that Newcastle had had a bid knocked back for the youngster, but it seems that Rafael Benitez still has an eye on the man dubbed the ‘next Paul Pogba’.
Soumare has made 15 appearances for Lille this season but has largely been a bit part player.
OPINION
This is a bit of an interesting one, because Soumare has yet to really make the breakthrough in Ligue 1. Despite that, he has seemingly done enough to convince Newcastle to submit a bid for him in January and to attract the attention of two of Europe’s footballing heavyweights. That’s quite an achievement by the young man. However, if he really is the next Paul Pogba then you can understand why so many teams are interested in him after just 15 appearances this season. He’s yet to start a league game for Christophe Galtier’s side, for goodness sake, but yet Newcastle are seemingly head over heels for him. It’s a bit strange, but when clubs spot potential they usually act pretty quickly and it seems that that’s what the Magpies did in January. Obviously that didn’t work out, and they might live to rue their failure to sign Soumare when they had the chance now that these two big boys are in for him.
