Newcastle’s deal for young defender ‘unlikely to be concluded’, doesn’t want U23 football

On Wednesday, we relayed claims from RMC Sport that Newcastle were working on a deal to sign Valenciennes’ young defender Sikou Niakaté.

The interest in the 19-year-old appeared to come after a failed attempt at signing Paris Saint-Germain’s Stanley N’Soki, and talks were said to be going well.

However, with little time left to sort out all the details, the French outlet stated the player’s entourage were worried the deal wouldn’t get done.

According to Foot Mercato on Thursday, that’s exactly what’s going to happen, as the website claims that despite Newcastle being ‘seduced’ by what the young centre-back has to offer, the player himself isn’t keen by what the Magpies have put forward.

Rafa Benitez’s side are said to want to place Niakaté in the club’s U23s, which would be a bit of a step back since he’s already a semi-regular with the Ligue 2 side’s first-team.

The youngster made 24 league appearances last season, eight of which came at left-back.

Foot Mercato now believe this deal is unlikely to be concluded.