Prince Rupert's Tower
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More defender stories for Everton

By Matt Townsend

Lille's Brazilian defender Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes (R) fights for the ball with Montpellier's French forward Gaetan Laborde during the French L1 football match between Lille OSC (LOSC) and Montpellier Herault Sport Club (MHSC) at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, on December 13, 2019. (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP) (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI/AFP via Getty Images)
Lille's Brazilian defender Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes (R) fights for the ball with Montpellier's French forward Gaetan Laborde during the French L1 football match between Lille OSC (LOSC) and Montpellier Herault Sport Club (MHSC) at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, on December 13, 2019. (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI / AFP) (Photo by FRANCOIS LO PRESTI/AFP via Getty Images) /
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It’s a quiet time for Everton stories at the moment, but there are further updates regarding defenders the Blues have been strongly linked to.

First of all it is being reported that Everton are now less likely to get the Lille centre-back Gabriel Magalhaels as according to reports in the French media, Carlo Ancelotti’s former club Napoli have moved into pole position for his signature.

Gabriel has supposedly been on the Toffees radar for a while now, and although other clubs were also linked to a move for him, the Blues have been the constant interested party.

If that is the case then it would be a blow if the Brazilian was to move somewhere else as he does look a very good young player, but Everton are being linked with moves for other defenders too.

The first of those is a player we’ve mentioned before; Jean-Clair Todibo of Barcelona. The 20-year-old, who is currently on loan at German side Schalke, is apparently available this summer for a fee of around £20 million or so.

Todibo always seemed a fall back option if the prospective deal for Gabriel was to collapse.  He is a younger, rawer talent than the Brazilian and more of a project in the making.

Given the Toffees strong links with Barcelona, that might make a move for Todibo easier and more likely and similar to previous transfer deals between the Spanish giants and the Blues for Lucas Digne, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes.

In other club news, it was announced yesterday that Everton have a new kit sponsor; Hummel, who have signed a three-year deal with the Blues to provide playing and training kits.

Hummel have agreed a deal worth approximately £30 million over the three years, considerably more than long-standing current supplier Umbro.

So at the very least the Toffees have secured more money for the right of Hummel to have their name associated with Everton Football Club for the first time.

Hummel have been absent from English football for a while and Everton will be their only Premier League sponsorship from nest season.

I remember they were a long-standing kit supplier to Tottenham Hotspur back in the mid eighties and into the nineties.

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So they are associated in my mind with that team, which played some great football but so often fell short in the battle for the league championship. Of course they lost out twice to Everton in the ’85 and ’87 title races during that period.

Hummel are supposedly producing a new kit design very soon. It will be interesting to see what kind of thing they come up with.

I hope they do respect the history of the club instead of trying to produce something new for the sake of it!

By that I mean a design that is simple and uncluttered and doesn’t include a lot of silly additions such as the horrible chevrons embedded in the current home shirt. I would also like to see a return to the old yellow and blue ‘away’ or change kit, which we haven’t seen for far too long.

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