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Sunderland appear to have pushed ahead of Bournemouth for Lille defender Bafodé Diakité, after a €30m offer was rejected from the Cherries.

Journalist Fabrice Hawkins reports that Diakité is not expected to sign at Bournemouth after they saw their €30m deal, which included bonuses, rejected.

Instead, it is Sunderland who now push for the defender. According to his information, personal terms with the player are not an issue. Lille, for their part, are asking for €40m to part with the player.

A report earlier this month had Bournemouth leading the race for Diakité, who they have identified as a replacement for Ilya Zabarnyi.

That was followed up by a report that both Bournemouth and Sunderland had seen €27m bids for the defender rejected by Lille. That was on Thursday, were it was made clear the French side did not intend to sell cheap and wanted as much as €40m.

Hawkins now confirms that is the case and says the French side have stuck to that valuation in the face of a Bournemouth offer worth €30m.

His suggestion that the player is now not expected to join the Cherries would suggest they’ve dropped out. It now remains to be seen if Sunderland will offer what Lille want.