Youssouf Kone claims he could have joined Newcastle this summer

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Lyon defender Youssouf Kone has claimed he might have joined Newcastle United earlier this summer.

The left-back – who is a full Mali international – suggests he had contact with the Premier League club whilst he was still at Lille, before ultimately deciding to join the Champions League club on July 3 for a fee of €9 million/£8 million (GFFN).

Newcastle ended up signing Jetro Willems on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt, after seemingly failing in their pursuit of long-term target Stanley Nsoki of Paris Saint-Germain.

He said, as quoted by OL-Mercato: “OL made an approach, and I did not think for a single second. I said to myself, ‘I’ll go there.’ The project pleased me. I followed the French Championship when I was in Mali, and Lyon is a team that has always played football.

“If I had looked at the financial side, I would have gone to Newcastle, but I preferred to look at the sporting aspect.”

TBR’s view

Perhaps Lyon made more sense for Kone given the fact that he already has Ligue 1 experience.

Their status as a Champions League club was also likely a big factor.

Only time will tell if Newcastle missed out on a great player. Kone had made a decent start for his new club, but was red-carded during last week’s defeat to Montpellier.