Everton deny second Zaha bid
Confusion reigns over the Blues transfer policy as Everton deny making a second bid for Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha.
Sky Sports claimed Everton had lodged a second bid, which included two Toffees players, Cenk Tosun and James McCarthy, after having an initial cash-only offer turned down.
But the Blues are saying that’s not true and after the failure of the first bid, that’s the end of the matter! So what on earth is going on?
If Everton were only going to offer cash for Zaha then they should have offered a serious amount given that Palace wanted £80 million.
Only putting £50 million on the table, (as was alleged), was never going to be enough for it to be taken seriously, especially after Arsenal had a bid of £40 odd million rejected.
If they wanted to sign Zaha they should have put at least £65 million or so down, let’s be honest. I don’t think the Palace forward is worth that kind of money, frankly who is? But if Everton aren’t prepared to put serious money down, then they’re not going to make much progress.
I’ve written before that I feel as though a little bit of uncertainty and indecision might be creeping into what had seemed previously to be a relatively stable transfer strategy at the club.
Given that several previously touted transfer targets have not materialised, perhaps the Blues decision to pursue Zaha was driven by a little bit of panic, a fear that Everton were in danger of missing out on the players they need.
Well one type of player that the Toffees certainly need as a matter of urgency, is a proven goal scorer. And to that end it’s claimed the Blues have agreed a fee with Juventus for a supposed long-time target, Moise Kean.
Sky Sports in Italy, (them again!), say Everton will initially pay close to £30 million for the 19-year-old, with the fee possibly rising to about £36 million. And that the agreement includes a buy-back clause.
Kean isn’t exactly what I’d call a proven goal scorer, yet. But he does have a decent record in the few games he’s played in Serie A for the Turin giants netting 6 times in the Italian league.
More from Prince Rupert's Tower
- Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
- Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
- Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
- More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
- Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions
He is though still very young and a bit raw and so this signing is a risk. Unlike Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has struggled in front of goal, finding the back of the net seems to be his strength, along with his passing and the usual pace and power.
Kean is also a lively counter-attacking threat. But on the debit side, the young Italian won’t perhaps contribute to the attack in the same all-round way that Calvert-Lewin does. That however is a part of his game he can improve on.
If he does come to Merseyside then let’s hope he can settle very quickly and that Everton create enough chances for him to prove that goal scoring ability is for real.