A week or so ago, Le10 Sport reported that Watford were interested in Lyon’s Mouctar Diakhaby, who was looking for a way out from the Ligue 1 side.
However, if France Football are to be believed late on Tuesday, it’s Newcastle and Everton who put the biggest fight to sign the young defender.
Despite being third choice centre-back under Bruno Génésio, the 21-year-old attracted a decent amount of attention this summer, but only one club can win such a race, and that’s Valencia.
The French magazine state Diakhaby and his entourage have already agreed a deal with the La Liga club, while Lyon will receive €15m + bonuses for the young defender, who chose to head to Spain instead of England.
Everton were the keenest of the two Premier League sides, reportedly presenting Lyon with a financially more attractive offer, only to be turned down by Diakhaby himself.
As for Newcastle, it is said Rafa Benitez’s side were only in contact with the player, and never came forward with money to try and convince Jean-Michel Aulas to sell his young talent to them instead.
Money doesn’t always talk, it seems.
