Arsenal are said to be interested in signing 21-year-old Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare at the end of the season – according to SoccerLink.
Boubakary Soumare joined Lille in 2017 on a free transfer and at the start of the new year, the player was supposed to join Newcastle United for a transfer fee of £35million. But eventually, the transfer fell apart as the player wanted to keep his options open in the summer.
Now it seems his risk has paid off with Arsenal keeping tabs on him as Arteta is looking to bring in a replacement for Granit Xhaka for the upcoming season.
While the Gunners are also tracking Thomas Partey but there are fears that Atletico Madrid might convince him to sign a new deal putting him out of reach for Arsenal. And that is why the club are looking at Boubakary Soumare as a backup option.
Will the Lille midfielder move to England this time?
The Lille midfielder has made a very good account of himself over the course of the season and if Arsenal come calling he will most certainly be willing to move to the Premier League.
And as per some reports, Lille are ready to accept the same transfer fee that NUFC were willing to pay since the 21-year-old has only two years left on his current deal.
This transfer price is very much suitable for the Gunners since Thomas Partey has a release clause of €50 million but Mikel Arteta might have one more problem to deal with.
Apart from the North London club, Liverpool are also said to be interested in Boubakary Soumare and right now a youngster like him who do anything to play under Jurgen Klopp.
It’s still not clear if Liverpool will actually make a move but if they do then there’s no way Arsenal will be able to get their hands on the player.
But for now, Arteta is fully focused on Thomas Partey and we believe he will only shift his focus to the Lille midfielder once he’s certain that Simeone will not let Thomas leave.
