Everton shouldn’t waste more time on Gabriel

It seems increasingly likely that Everton are going to miss out on signing Gabriel Magalhaes as the Brazilian defender mulls over his options with Manchester United and Arsenal both apparently keen on him too.

As recent reports underline, Everton seem to be facing an increasingly uphill struggle to persuade the Lille central defender to come to Goodison Park.

Of course, as we know, the Blues were very close to sealing a deal for him, having even agreed personal terms supposedly, before the pandemic hit and the season was suspended. But that was then and now it seems as though the defender has decided to explore his other options.

I think that’s it’s long past time that the Toffees move on from Gabriel. It’s obvious to me that he isn’t really interested in coming to Everton and he and his agent are probably just using the Blues interest to force more money out of other clubs.

If a player isn’t truly excited by the prospect of joining the Blues, fine then don’t bother trying endlessly to persuade him. Instead the club should look at other alternatives as time is ticking on.

Anyway in truth, is he likely to pick the Toffees over those other clubs? Everton finished in 12th place and failed to secure European football, which makes it much more difficult to persuade these players to sign when they have other admirers who can offer that.

It is frustrating to see this scenario play out as it’s something that we’ve seen before with the Toffees in past transfer windows.

Everton’s priority in this window must be to sort out the midfield at all costs, rather than signing another central defender. Although I recognise that Mason Holgate and Jarrard Branthwaite are still young and inexperienced, especially Branthwaite, and both Micheal Keane and Yerry Mina certainly have their failings.

But the Blues do ultimately need a strong central spine to the team running from goalkeeper through central defence and midfield to the strikers. So are there other potential defenders who could be an alternative option in this window?

One possibility being mentioned with increasing regularity is the return to Goodison Park of Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma.

I’m not convinced bringing Zouma back makes sense, not for the sort of money being quoted anyway. When he was at Everton on loan he had something to prove as it seems he always wanted to go back to Chelsea and win a first-team place at Stamford Bridge. So what’s the incentive for him now?

Staying away from defenders in the Premier League, who are usually over-valued, especially if they are English, there is one player I think could kill two birds with one stone if he signed, and he’s a player manager Carlo Ancelotti knows well: Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

Di Lorenzo can play across the defence with his main position being right-back, where the Toffees do need alternatives, although he regularly operates in central defence as well. He can also play wide on the right of midfield too.

Di Lorenzo is quick and strong, especially in the air and has good positional sense as well, creates chances and offers a genuine goal threat. His versatility is a real asset too and would mean the Toffees don’t need to find another specialist right-back as well as a centre-back in this window.

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In addition, he is a very good calm, accurate passer out of defence, something that is obviously important to Ancelotti’s way of playing. And of course he knows how Ancelotti likes to play!

Finally, at 27 he’s at his peak and has has plenty of experience, which will surely help the Blues young defenders, Holgate and Branthwaite as they develop their game.

I would see him slotting in at right-back ahead of Seamus Coleman, an able back-up, but then being able to move across and play centrally if Everton needed him to cover an injury or to give one of the younger players time out to recover their form and confidence.

Di Lorenzo is valued at around £15 million, which I think is a very good deal. At an rate it’s an alternative to spending £30-40 million on one player, something I really don’t see Everton doing.

Would he come to the Premier League? Well maybe if the terms were tempting enough and a chance to play again under Ancelotti might help, although we might be in danger of over-hyping the attractiveness of the Italian to his former charges!