Steve Bruce has confirmed that Newcastle had a near club-record deal turned down for their number one target, Boubakary Soumare.

What’s the story?

The Toon have already brought in three players: Nabil Bentaleb, Valentin Lazaro and Danny Rose have all joined the club on loan during this window.

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Now, though, Steve Bruce has revealed that the St James’ Park outfit had a bid of near £40m turned down for a midfielder during this transfer window.

Calling all transfer experts! How much did each of these Deadline Day signings cost?

Keith Downie, meanwhile, has added that Bruce said he was the club’s number one target, and confirmed the player in question was Lille’s Boubakary Soumare.

Confusing

The bid for Soumare has to be seen as a bit of a baffling one in the circumstances.

Newcastle had already added a central midfielder to their ranks this month in Bentaleb, and with the Longstaff brothers and Jonjo Shelvey also available in the middle, it seems strange that they were ready to spend so much to bring another one to St James’ Park.

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What’s even more confusing is the fact that they look to need goals in their team, having only scored 24 goals in their 24 Premier League matches this term.

Their top marksman is Shelvey with five, while summer addition Joelinton has two to his name.

Spending a money on another striker might have been a better idea, then.