Will Everton add to squad before deadline?
Having confirmed the signing of their sixth player as Djibril Sidibe joins, will Everton be able to make any more additions before the transfer window shuts at 5 pm UK time?
The big question hanging over deadline day as far as Everton fans are concerned, is will Wilfried Zaha be a Blues player come 5 pm..?
I’ve been holding back on writing this piece in case there was any news this morning but so far nothing more concrete.
The only significant update comes from The Guardian who claim Everton have offered £70 million plus the same two players.
The paper also say that Zaha himself is furious with the Selhurst Park club for rejecting this latest Blues bid and going back on an agreement to let him go for a big offer this summer. So he has now submitted a transfer request to try and force through the move.
The article also says Palace now want £100 million for the Ivory coast forward! If that figure is true, it’s totally absurd and certainly Everton shouldn’t and I’m sure won’t, go that high.
There doesn’t seem to be much more they can do. Everton’s willingness to sell James McCarthy to Palace in a separate deal, might well have been motivated in large part as an attempt to oil the wheels of a Zaha transfer.
And just today his current club, Crystal Palace, (also of course Everton’s opponents on Saturday’s opening weekend), are apparently trying hard to sign striker Fedor Chalov from Russian side CSKA Moscow.
This could be a very interesting development. If Palace do get this player in time they might be prepared, at last, to let Zaha leave. Or they might need to sell Zaha to fund this move..?
In other transfer news the Toffees have been trying hard to secure another centre-back before time runs out.
First of all they tried to get Manchester United defender Chris Smalling on loan. United rejected this but the Blues are supposedly talking to the Old Trafford club about a deal for Marcos Rojo.
Rojo is a player Everton have been associated with in the past, during last winter’s window when he was strongly linked with a move to Goodison Park.
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Now in this window, it looks as though the Blues have gone back in for him after failing to persuade United to sell Smalling.
To be honest this looks like a bit of desperation from the Blues as Rojo has fallen right down the pecking order at United, despite their obvious defensive problems last season.
At best he would seem to be a reserve centre-back, although maybe I’ll be proved wrong. He can also play left-back too so gives Marco Silva further options there.
More to follow as this deadline day reaches it’s conclusion…