NUFC 'in talks' to sign Lyon star but move fails to materialise in typical Mike Ashley style - Report
According to reports in France, Newcastle were 'in talks' to sign highly-rated Lyon defender Moutcar Diakhaby, however the player has agreed to join Valencia instead after we failed to even make an offer for the 21-year-old.
France Football state that ourselves, Everton and Valencia were all talking to the 6ft 3' centre-back, however they claim that, despite our interest, we didn't end up making any formal offer to sign him - unlike Everton and Valencia who followed up their interest as you'd expect any normal club to do:
https://twitter.com/GFFN/status/1011906537747558401
Despite a £13m offer from Everton, he's now agreed to join Valencia instead, meaning we were probably 'interested' to an extent, but not for that price - with us more than likely to replace Mbemba on the cheap if and when we do.
This really does sum up our approach to sign players this summer. Show subtle interest but don't bother making any sort of attempt to sign the said player.
I didn't expect us to replace Mbemba with a £13m centre-back in fairness, but this still proves that we really do need to pull our finger out.
