Newcastle United made an approach to AC Milan for striker M'Baye Niang before signing Aleksandar Mitrovic this summer, according to a report in Italy. Calciomercatio claims the Magpies offered around £4.8 million (6.7 million) for the forward, but that Milan made it clear they were unwilling to sell their star striker during this summer window. What's more, the report also states that Newcastle's offer was "clearly too low" compared to Milan's valuation of the 20-year-old former France Under-21 international - who has been described as a "phenomenon". Instead, once Milan made it clear to the Magpies that the were not prepared to sell Niang this summer, Newcastle upped their efforts to sign Serbian forward Mitrovic, with the deal officially confirmed last week. At 6ft 1in, Niang is a tall and gangly striker - but he also has searing pace, meaning he is able to play as a winger as well as a forward. Having started his career at Caen in France, where he netted five times in 30 appearances between 2010 and 2012, Niang moved to Milan. Aside from loan spells at Montpellier for the 2013-14 campaign, where Niang scored five goals in 22 games, and Genoa for the 2014-15 season, where he bagged five in 12, he has made 38 appearances for Milan since moving to Italy. However, the former three-cap France Under-21 international has netted just once for the San Siro outfit - and he has failed to score in either of the past two seasons - yet the Rossoneri remain determined to keep hold of him. For all the latest NUFC News, Views and Transfers make sure to follow whatculture.com/NUFC on Twitter and Facebook.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
