Gomis admits that a deal was close but the Magpies wanted the striker to be paid less.
After weeks of trying to sign Olympique Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis, Newcastle United eventually failed in their bid and the striker has spoken out about what went wrong.
According to the Frenchman the Magpies wanted Gomis to reduce the forward’s wage demands – something the 28-year-old was not prepared to do.
“I had a talk with Newcastle’s coach and we found an agreement,” the France international was quoted by Sky Sports.
“Then, there were talks with Lyon, there was a first offer – which was refused and then a second one, which was accepted.
“Newcastle then came back to me and asked me to make an effort on wages – but I never asked anything as it was my club which wanted to transfer me, so the effort had to be made by Newcastle or Lyon.”
It was a disappointing transfer window for Alan Pardew’s side, as despite the highly controversial appointment of Joe Kinnear as Director of Football, only one new player arrived in the shape of loan signing Loic Remy from QPR.
Fans at St James’ Park were angered with this lack of activity and some of that could have perhaps been dampened if the Gomis deal had gone through.
The attacker has been marginalised at Lyon and is yet to feature for the Ligue 1 side in the 2013/14 season.
This is in distinct contrast to last term when Gomis played all but one of the club’s league matches and netted a respectable 16 goals.
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