Besides the obvious talents in their squad, such as Nicolas Pépé and Rafael Leao, Lille have a 20-year-old defensive midfielder who, without featuring huge amounts last season (just five starts in Ligue 1), has caught the eye of many clubs around Europe.
His name is Boubakary Soumaré, and Wolverhampton Wanderers liked what they saw so much that they bid €40m for him.
This is what RMC Sport’s Mohamed Bouhafsi reported on Tuesday afternoon, claiming Wolves had put forward the considerable amount to convince Lille to part ways with their starlet.
In fact, it appears the Ligue 1 side did indeed accept the offer, but it’s the player himself who turned down the chance to move to Molineux, preferring to stay in France where he will play in the Champions League.
Info @RMCsport : #Wolverhampton a fait une offre de 40M€ pour Boubakary #Soumaré. L’offre a été rejetée par le joueur qui veut disputer la Ldc cette saison avec le #Losc. Everton le surveille aussi de près mais Soumaré souhaite rester à Lille une saison encore sauf énorme offre.
— Mohamed Bouhafsi (@mohamedbouhafsi) July 23, 2019
Lille finished second behind Paris Saint-Germain, thus qualifying directly for the competition’s group stage.
Who they will face remains to be seen, but Soumaré has chosen to stay in a familiar environment to continue his development rather than gamble abroad, even if it does mean Lille miss out on a huge amount of money.
