Bournemouth and Sunderland have both seen bids of €27m rejected by Lille for defender Bafodé Diakité.
That’s according to L’Equipe, who report that Lille want as much as €40m for the centre-back this summer.
The newspaper explains that Bournemouth and Sunderland both submitted €27m bids for Diakité but both offers were rejected by the French side. They want €40m for the player, who has a contract until June 2028.
Their management do no intend to waver on this matter, despite Diakité having expressed his desire to move to the Premier League.
Indeed, he has already reached a contract agreement with Bournemouth. That was revealed earlier this month. The prospect of playing under Régis Le Bris at Sunderland isn’t unattractive to him either, though.
The Black Cats have invested heavily in the French market this summer already Diakité is now on their radar as well.
The question is whether they or Bournemouth are willing to spend the sums that Lille are demanding to let the former Toulouse defender depart. €13m currently separates both and they now need to up their offers or look elsewhere.