Back before they were taken over by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, Newcastle United made an attempt to sign Boubacar Kamara.
That came late on in the summer, but the player, whose contract at Marseille runs out at the end of the season, declined to join both the Magpies and Wolverhampton Wanderers in favour of staying at his childhood club.
The belief was that Kamara might even renew with the Ligue 1 side to give them a chance to earn a bit more money off his inevitable transfer, but even that’s looking unlikely now.
Recently punished by the DNCG for their finances, Marseille, according to RMC Sport, are ‘struggling to find a financial agreement’ with the player, who ‘rejected a third renewal offer a few weeks ago’.
Because of the restrictions, the Ligue 1 side are ‘forced to be careful about their expenditure’, and want to renew him with an improved salary only starting from next year.
However, that’s not the main issue, with RMC Sport claiming it was the way Marseille handled the summer transfer window that frustrated him the most, especially when they spent €25m on Gerson and brought in 10 players, making it clear the money was there, but it was ‘simply spent in a different way’.
That’s when the offer from Newcastle is mentioned, but that was before the new owners, and things certainly have changed.
Over in the south of France, ‘the trust seems to be broken’, opening the door for the Magpies to make a new attempt in January, and while ‘the chances of seeing Kamara renew aren’t completely gone’, they will have to ‘retie a strong link with their midfielder’ if they are to achieve that goal.
As for Newcastle, they can simply waltz in with their money and see how he reacts to what would obviously be a better offer than what Marseille can afford right now, as well as a far more ambitious project.
