Reports today indicate several Celtic players are potentially considering seeking a transfer after becoming frustrated with recent results. Could any of these players potentially be of interest to Everton?
The players concerned are striker Odsonne Edouard, centre-back Kristoffer Ajer and midfielder Olivier Ntcham. Of the three, the ones who might make the most sense for Everton to consider, are Edouard and centre-back Ajer.
The Toffees were one of a number of Premier League clubs who were consistently linked with French striker Edouard.
As we reported earlier the club’s exit from the Champions League has prompted further stories that he might be considering a future away from Parkhead.
Turning our attention to the other two. Norwegian Ajer is part of the new generation of talented young players to emerge in the Nordic country recently.
Ajer is a very solid defender with the sort of qualities the Toffees are looking for. One of his strengths is his passing, which would make him well-suited to Carlo Ancelotti’s style of playing out from the back.
He is versatile, able to play at centre-back as well as in central midfield. In addition, the Norway international can also equally well operate at right-back, where, if rumours are to be believed, the Blues are certainly looking for more options.
Ajer is 22 and would, according to Transfermarkt.co.uk, be available for around £3 million. That seems a bit of bargain for a player of that quality with potential sell-on value as well.
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Everton do have plenty of good young central defenders already on their books; Mason Holgate, Jarrad Branthwaite and Lewis Gibson.
So signing Ajer might seem unnecessary but at £3 million he would surely be worth considering snapping up if he wanted a move to England.
The other player is French midfielder Ntcham. He’s also young-ish at 24 and hasn’t played a great deal of games for the Scottish champions.
Ntcham appears to be best suited to an attacking midfield role although in truth he hasn’t contributed much in terms of goals etc.
In other centre-back news, one time Toffees target Thiago Silva has finally decided his future and has just signed a one-year deal with Chelsea.
Silva was heavily linked with a move to Goodison Park but has opted to move to west London instead, no doubt the lure of playing Champions League football was important and I’m sure the money is a little better too!