More midfield options for Everton
As the increasingly surreal coronavirus situation continues, more transfer rumours bubble up to fill the void with today’s stories connecting Everton with moves for a couple of midfielders.
Reports circulating today have Everton considering moves for two young midfielders; Jonathan Ikone and Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Pellegrini is a player that the Toffees have been linked with before and new reports suggest Carlo Ancelotti is still interested in a deal for the Roma star.
Meanwhile following the recent stories about the Blues putting in a firm bid for the Lille defender Gabriel, there are further rumours Everton now want his team-mate Ikone too. It seems as though the French Ligue 1 outfit are becoming a farm club for the Blues!
All these transfer stories seem more and more disconnected to reality but with little else for the papers or indeed anyone in football to talk about at the moment, they will continue.
Given how this crisis is unfolding, time is moving on and we still have no idea when or if the current season will resume and finish, it seems increasingly unrealistic that players will even be able to move abroad this summer assuming there is a transfer window.
Anyway as there is little else to talk about lets indulge these stories!
Starting with Ikone, the French attacker has had a decent season for Lille and as they chase Champions League qualification he has chipped in with three goals and six assists.
He’s another one of these versatile forward types who can play several different positions although he seems to spend most of his time operating through the middle.
Ikone, like Pellegrini is young, which fits nicely with the transfer strategy of Marcel Brands so both these players could be possibilities.
As for Pellegrini the Italian is a fine attacking player with the ability to operate in a variety of positions in midfield including wide on the left. He also might be available for a reduced fee too, something that will be important to the Blues in this current financial climate.
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Talking of finances there is another story in the Echo that the Toffees stand to lose a considerable amount in transfer values on existing players, if the current hiatus continues.
This will be of some concern to the board, given that Financial Fair Play rules are already constraining Everton’s room for manoeuvre in the transfer market.
One way to alleviate this problem is to raise additional funds by selling a number of the players currently on the club’s books who don’t look as though they have a long-term future. I’m thinking of individuals like Gylfi Sigurdsson, Cenk Tosun and Morgan Schniederlin.
Obviously if these players’ value has declined considerably then such a strategy will raise far less money which the Blues can then spend on new signings.