Allan Saint-Maximin FaceTimed Magpies Target to Try and Sell Him on Newcastle Move (it Didn't Work)

​Newcastle apparently asked Allan Saint-Maximin to FaceTime Boubakary Soumare images of the club's training ground in an attempt to convince the midfielder to move to St James' Park.

The pair have previously played together for France's Under-21s side and Steve Bruce was seemingly keen to use every method possible in order to pull off the audacious coup.

Soumare is highly rated and has been linked with a host of clubs across Europe recently. Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea were just some of the teams touted as ​possible destinations but it was Newcastle who had a ​club record bid for the 20-year-old accepted last week. 

The player ended up turning down the move but it was not for the want of trying on the Magpies part. According to L'Equipe (via ​Robin Bairner), Newcastle requested that Saint-Maximin video call Soumare in an attempt to sway his decision.  

Bruce explained why the deal failed to materialise on Friday.

"We had a bid accepted that would have been our record transfer eight days ago," said Bruce, as quoted by Sky Sports. "It was accepted by the club but unfortunately the player wanted to stay where he was. We were active, we were really, really active, but it didn't quite happen, so we'll just have to wait and see what we can do in the summer."

Newcastle did manage to complete the signing of ​Tottenham and England left-back Danny Rose before the close of the transfer window. Rose joins on a loan deal until the end of the season and could make his debut when the Magpies take on Norwich on Saturday. 

Prior to this, the club also completed moves for Schlake's Nabil Bentaleb and ​Inter's Valentino Lazaro. Bentaleb operates in a centre-midfield and has previous Premier League experience with Tottenham, while Lazaro is a tricky wideman who principally operates down the right-hand side. 

Both players join on loan deals until the end of the season.

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