According to L’Equipe (via Robin Bairner), Boubakary Soumare seemingly declined to make the move to Newcastle after Allan Saint-Maximin FaceTimed the midfielder to show him the club’s training facilities.
What’s the story?
On transfer deadline day, Steve Bruce shared that Newcastle had made a near-record bid for an unnamed midfielder, which was said to be worth £45m – Sky Sports believed that player to be Lille’s Soumare.
Now, it has been revealed by the French outlet that Saint-Maximin was asked to FaceTime his compatriot to show him the training ground in a bid to get him to sign. However, after this, the 20-year-old Lille man said no, per Bairner.
Failed Kinnear promise
It was surprising to hear Bruce admit that they had made such a big bid during the window, and it clearly would have been a statement of intent from the Toon – Soumare is a player that has been linked with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea over the past month or so.
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However, training facilities should be used to entice a player only if they are in good condition – at Newcastle, that is not the case. They are rather outdatedÂand are in desperate need of being renovated.
Back in 2013, then director of football Joe Kinnear proudly said:
“This is a hugely exciting development for Newcastle United. We have one of football’s great stadiums and we are delighted to now be announcing plans for a training complex which will rival any in Europe. Top players and top teams need top training and medical facilities.
“Our current training ground has served the Club very well but the new complex will give us all of the ingredients that we need to continue maintaining and enhancing the performance of elite footballers. It will also be an added attraction when we are looking to recruit players.”
Several years later, and nothing much has been done. Kinnear’s comments on the importance of good facilities when signing players do ring true, but in this case it has gone against them. If they had built a state of the art environment, a young player like Soumare may have been excited by the project that the Magpies are building.
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It doesn’t reflect well on the club as a whole that a rising star of football could have potentially turned down a move because of something like the training facilities not being up to scratch. So if Newcastle really do want to compete for players of this stature, it is something they must look to rectify as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Newcastle knocked back Celtic in regards to their 69-time international.