Everton winger Bernard has said yes to AS Roma but there is one obstacle that needs to be tackled.
The arrival of Tiago Pinto as General manager of Football at AS Roma couldn’t come at a better time with the January transfer market just open. Roma boss Paulo Fonseca is expecting reinforcements in a number of positions and now that Pinot is there to his aid, he expects quick results.
Fonseca continues to demand attacking reinforcements especially wingers to ease the load on the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pedro. Stephan El Shaarawy is a name that surely interests Roma and would like to have him back from Shanghai Shenhua.
However, that deal is reaching nowhere due to the Chinese club’s hefty demands. This has pushed Roma to look at the alternate tracks hence the name of Bernard has emerged.
The Everton winger was subject of a transfer enquiry back in the summer as well but the Brazilian ended up staying at Goodison. However, a January move could be on the cards for Bernard as Fonseca is eager to reunite with his former pupil. According to a report from Calciomercato, Fonseca personally called Bernard to ask him to join Roma to which the Brazilian has said yes.
The 28 year old is not a core member of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad and has found regular game time hard to come by. The Brazilian has registered just 9 appearances, playing 485 minutes. Everton want to permanently sign Robin Olsen from Roma after the Swede has done well in the limited chances he’s had at the Merseyside club so far.
A potential swap deal between Roma and Everton cannot be ruled out with Everton acquiring Olsen and some amount of cash in exchange of Bernard. However, there is one obstacle that remains for Roma.
Bernard currently pockets €3.5 million a year at Goodison Park however, the Giallorossi are not willing to go this far and can only offer him €2.5 million net salary per year. So, Bernard will have to take a significant pay cut in order to sign for Roma.
Bernard is open to a transfer to Roma and Everton are willing to sell him so there’s a high probability that a deal will go through at some point of time in the January transfer window.