It feels like Everton are fast approaching “moving day” in a summer transfer window that Frank Lampard and his impressive director of football Kevin Thelwell long set out to be transformative.
With the desperate need for at least one high calibre striker to join, the restrictions of Financial Fair Play (FFP) to contend with and vultures circling for their most promising young player Anthony Gordon, it promises to be a chaotic final fortnight at Goodison Park.
Perhaps, given the pair of narrow defeats that have kicked off the new Premier League season, that is a good thing. Change is still very much required – with the small margins of the defeat to Aston Villa re-emphasising the need for a high-calibre goalscorer to be imported.
Despite transfer work definitively stepping up this week, i understands it’s looking “unlikely” at this stage that the club will have a striker on board in time for the crucial visit of Nottingham Forest to Goodison Park.
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Another Arteta-Brent moment and Saka's ice cream - reviewing the All or Nothing: Arsenal finale16 August, 2022One source – perhaps with an eye on the more process-driven strategy being rolled out by Thelwell – used the analogy of “spinning plates” to describe Everton’s week so far. It sounds a fair description – with the high-profile departure of midfielder Dele Alli kicking off a series of moves that should leave Lampard with a squad that he can improve and lift out of the relegation battle.
Alli has been cleared to leave Everton for Besiktas, some way short of the 20 games that would require a £10m payment to Spurs on the transfer agreed back in January.
It is not as simple as dodging the payment outright though. i understands that if the deal is agreed with the Turkish side, Everton will still have to pay Tottenham a significant proportion of the original fee agreed in another sign of Daniel Levy’s savvy dealing.
That move – either a loan or permanent deal – will be done with Lampard’s blessing, a sad reflection on Alli’s inability to make his mark in a struggling side on Merseyside. The same is not true of Chelsea’s determined interest in England Under-21 forward Gordon, who has been the subject of two huge offers from the Blues.
Both have been rejected but there’s an anticipation of a third and while Everton’s stance remains he is not for sale, much will now come down to whether the player himself wants the move. An indication that he does – and will push for it – could well force the club’s hand.
Earlier this summer Everton sources said an offer from Newcastle at around the £35million mark was met with the response that there was a “zero per cent” chance of him leaving in the close season. But the mood music feels different this time.
An extra £50m in the coffers would allow further substantial rebuilding in a hectic trading period.
As reported by i last week Everton’s number one target is Chelsea’s Armando Broja and they have been in constant dialogue with the Blues which is separate to their offer for Gordon. Encouragingly the player is open to the move and wants first-team football after enjoying a successful loan at Southampton last season.
But an alternative plan is forming with the club also exploring a number of Ligue 1 targets. They are among a clutch of clubs that have enquired about Blackburn’s Ben Brereton Diaz, while Brighton forward Neal Maupay is also under consideration.
One long-standing transfer is close to completion now, however.
i also understands the deal to take Idrissa Gana Gueye from Paris Saint Germain to Goodison Park is now in its final stages, with the player having agreed a severance package with his club. That should pave the way for the midfielder to re-join Everton, the move he always preferred.
It could even be done in time for him to play a part against newly-promoted Forest in a game that Everton simply must win.
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