Last Thursday, when everyone was nursing a transfer hangover, La Voix du Nord broke down the crazy deadline day Lille oversaw, only for L’Equipe to claim a few days later some of the offers appeared to have been fabricated by the club itself to placate investors.
The Ligue 1 club are in a bit of a precarious financial situation despite being backed by a billionaire, and a number of offers, like Everton’s for Adama Soumaoro or Monaco’s for Boubakary Soumaré, appear to never have been made.
One, however, that apparently was presented and turned down by Lille was a €12m + an unknown amount of bonuses offer from Manchester City for the latter of the two.
The 18-year-old defensive midfielder was linked a few times with Pep Guardiola’s side prior to the last day of the transfer window, and La Voix du Nord revealed the bid first.
Well, on Wednesday, Le10 Sport claim to confirm that information, and have a few more details, including the amount the bonuses presented by Manchester City added up to.
According to the French website, the Premier League side were prepared to add around €13m on top of the original €12m bid, which, with some quick maths from our part, takes it to a grand total €25m.
We know, we know, we’re good. And we didn’t even use a calculator.
With an ageing Fernandinho the only natural defensive midfielder in Manchester City’s squad, it’s no surprise to see them looking around for the Brazilian’s successor, and there’s every chance they could come back for Soumaré in the summer.
Lille need the money, and a good enough offer would certainly force them to say yes.
