Newcastle have moved onto their next Marseille target with a €6million bid for midfielder Mario Lemina, which the French club have swiftly rejected, according to L’Equipe.
The former Lorient man signed for Marseille back in 2013 in a reported €5million deal, but hasn’t quite hit the heights he was supposed to – with club president Vincent Labrune reportedly ‘disappointed’ in his progress thus far.
With Marseille strapped for cash and in the midst of a fire sale with Gianelli Imbula and Dimitri Payet both having already been sold to Porto and West Ham respectively, Lemina could be the next player to leave the Ligue 1 club this summer.
Lemina isn’t the only Marseille star we are in active discussions to sign as club directors are still discussing a permanent move for attacking midfielder Florian Thauvin.
It is believed Newcastle tabled a €15million bid for Thauvin earlier in the week, but Labrune is still considering the approach. He could be stalling under Marseille find an adequate replacement for the Frenchman, having missed out on Idrissa Gueye to Aston Villa, or he’s holding out for another club to follow up their interest in order to start a bidding war.
From past experience, it is safe to say Newcastle definitely will not get involved with a bidding war.
