Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare has agreed personal terms with Leicester City since February, according to Sky Sports journalist and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
Boubacary Soumaré has agreed personal terms with Leicester since February. #LCFC are close to complete the agreement with Lille to sign the midfielder on a permanent deal, negotiations ongoing. 🔵🦊 #Leicester https://t.co/8efrfdX01e
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 8, 2021
The Foxes are close to reaching an agreement with the Ligue 1 outfit and negotiations are ongoing ahead of the summer transfer window.
The news will come as a huge blow for Tottenham Hotspur as they were also keeping tabs on Soumare.
The Daily Star revealed last month that Spurs have also registered strong interest in the £30 million-rated France youth international midfielder, but they will have to look elsewhere from the look of things.
Manchester United are keen on Soumare too, but the fact that he has agreed personal terms with Brendan Rodgers is not good news for them either.
Spurs need to bolster their midfield this summer, and while the Lille star would be a quality addition, it is Leicester that are in the driving seat.
The Foxes already have Wilfred Ndidi, Hamza Choudhury, Nampalys Mendy and Daniel Amartey in defensive midfield, but they will be playing in Europe again next season and are in need of another quality addition in order to add more depth to their squad.
Newcastle United had a £32m bid for the 22-year-old rejected last summer but it seems that he could finally be on his way to the Premier League in the coming weeks.
Lille have turned down a bid [€35m add ons includer] from Newcastle for the French midfielder Boubacary Soumaré. ⚪️⚫️ #NUFC #transfers
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 10, 2020
The Magpies’ bid for the midfielder was accepted by Lille in January 2020, but Soumare was not keen on moving to St. James’ Park as he wanted to play European football with his team.
I’m fairly certain the midfielder Newcastle came close to signing was Lille’s Boboukary Soumaré. They had a bid of around £35m accepted, but the player chose not to come. Newcastle & Steve Bruce unwilling to confirm this morning #NUFC #DeadlineDay
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) January 31, 2020
Lille are two wins away from winning the Ligue 1 title at the expense of Paris Saint-Germain, and the youngster could be leaving for England on a high note.
In other news, Leicester appear to have pipped Arsenal to the signature of French hitman.
