Everton move for Neto may depend on getting Santo

The soap opera story over the next Everton manager continues with further rumours that the alledged front-runner Nuno Espirito Santo might be close to a move.. but not to Goodison Park.

In fact according to some of these reports, Santo will not be coming to Everton but instead he’s on his way to south London and Crystal Palace.

The Eagles were supposedly in contact with the former Wolves boss before Carlo Ancelotti turned his back on the Blues last week and left for Madrid.

Once the Toffees job became available, there was a strong current of media talk claiming that the Portuguese would instead be turning his attention to the Everton vacancy, rather than going to Selhurst Park.

Then there were stories doing the rounds that Santo was actually the favourite for the Everton job and that the club were in talks with him and were ready to offer him a deal.

Now though it seems as though he’s closer to taking the Palace job rather than making the move up north to Merseyside. So where does this leave the Blues?

Well of course it was never certain that the Toffees were genuinly keen on Santo and it could have just all been paper talk with no real basis to it.

However, if he was the favoured candidate and decided to go to Palace instead, what does that say about the Blues situation?

There are several ways to read this. One negative way to see it is that the club are in such a mess that they can’t attract the man they want who’d rather go to a struggling club lower down the Premier League rather than take the Toffees job.

Another way to see this is that even if he was one of, or even the slight favourite overall, the club are relaxed and feel they have enough options to consider.

More from Prince Rupert's Tower

It might also mean that there is still a power struggle within the club hierachy such as seemed to be the case before Ancelotti took over and that has made it impossible to come to a consensus over who should succeed the Italian. So Santo has decided to go where he is apparently unambigously wanted.

Well whatever the reason it does seem to throw the whole messy business into further uncertainty and it looks like we’re as far away as we were seven days ago from knowing who will be in the Blues dugout when the new season kicks off.

One undercurrent to this situation is a rumour that Everton are keen on signing Pedro Neto this summer as they look to re-build again.

Neto is the kind of attacker that the Toffees have been seraching for for a long time now. The 21-year-old Portuguese forward is a fine talent and a very versatile player who can operate anywhere across the forward line. He’s a player who creates and scores goals.

He would fit that identikit Everton have for a left-footed wide player who can play on the right and cut inside from the wing.

But while it doesn’t mean the Blues can’t sign him, it would surely be made easier if they were to bring in his compatriot Santo as their new manager who brought him at Molinuex.

Home/Transfer Rumors