Lille want to keep Newcastle target Debuchy
Lille have confessed they will hold onto Mathieu Debuchy until they’ve found a replacement for the French defender amid strong interest from Newcastle United.
Debuchy has been on the radar of Magpies boss Alan Pardew for much of the summer and have already had one bid rejected by the Ligue 1 club that fell below their asking price.
The 26-year-old right back has already told Les Dogues he wants to leave for pastures new with Italian giants Inter Milan also interested whilst Premier League duo Chelsea and Manchester United were linked with him last month.
However Lille’s assistant director general Frederic Paquet insists the France international won’t be sold until the club have acquired a suitable successor.
Paquet said: “For a player to leave, there are two conditions which have to be met.
“First, we need to have a replacement. Then we will see if the offer lives up to what we expect.
“Mathieu clearly has no substitute, although we are looking. We have heard that he wants to leave, but as we speak there is no replacement.
“We have received an offer, but it was not what we are looking for.”
Debuchy has spent his entire career at the Grand Stade Lille Métropole racking up over 200 appearances since making his debut when he was 18 in January 2004.
The defender would link up with former Lille teammate Yohan Cabaye with rumours suggesting the midfielder has been trying persuade him to make the switch to St James’ Park whilst on international duty with Les Blues at Euro 2012.
It’s proved to be a quiet close season by Newcastle’s standards with more outgoings than incomings and it’s rumoured that Debuchy will be a replacement for Danny Simpson who is wanted by newly promoted Reading.
Simpson missed just two games for the Tyneside club last year but could follow Danny Guthrie to the Madjeski Stadium with his contract situation yet to be resolved.
