French defender latest Everton rumour
As Everton gear up for this afternoon’s Premier League match at Crystal Palace, more transfer stories link the club with new defensive targets.
The latest stories claim Everton might be turning their attention to Cameroon central defender Jerome Onguene, who plays at Red Bull Salzburg.
The Toffees have been linked with a host of centre-backs since the injuries to Mason Holgate and then Jarrad Branthwaite and given how injury-prone Yerry Mina also is.
The one player the Blues boss, Carlo Ancelotti, seemed most keen to get, was Chelsea’s Fikayo Tomori, but that possible deal seems dead in the water.
The other defender most strongly and consistently linked with Everton for quite a while, is Barcelona defender Jean-Clair Todibo.
As the move for Tomori has presumably fallen through, Todibo seemed to be the next preferred choice, but the Spanish club want a permanent move now and the Blues seem more interested in a loan with an option to buy next summer.
That’s probably because Todibo’s move would cost a considerable amount up front at around £20 million, which is a prohibitive fee given how much money the Toffees have already outlayed this summer on new recruits.
Now Onguene has come onto the radar with reports that both Everton and Premier League newcomers Fulham are showing an interest in the player.
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The Cameroonian International has been playing his trade in the Austrian Bundesliga, which is in truth not the strongest or most competitive league in Europe.
However, he is at 23-years-old the right sort of age though and has so perhaps has time to develop and improve further. His valuation is also much more reasonable than Todibo at about £4-5 million.
On the debit side, Onguene does seem to have a bit of track record of picking up injuries. This is something the Toffees don’t need more of given the issues they already have with their existing central defenders getting hurt.
While a move for a young player like this can’t be completely ruled out, I think it’s fairly safe to assume this one is yet more idle gossip.
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In my view, the Blues will in the end, probably try and do some sort of compromise deal with Barcelona for Todibo if they can’t revive the Tomori deal, especially given the good past relations between the two clubs.