Benitez and Everton linked to Lenglet move
More transfer rumours are floating around and today’s headline claims Everton boss Rafa Benitez is keen on adding a Barcelona centre-back to the squad.
New Everton manager Benitez is juggling getting to know his new players with sorting out transfer targets and one of them is apparently to bring in a new central defender.
Well this report says that defender is Clement Lenglet who is supposedly available for around £15-20 million as the Spanish giants try to trim their squad.
Barcelona are in a difficult financial position as are their La Liga rivals Real Madrid and both clubs are looking to offload as many high-earning and unwanted players as they can this summer.
They won’t be alone as a lot of European clubs will be desperate to reduce their player numbers after the fallout from the past year or so and get shot of those they don’t want. The Toffees are in the same sort of position.
So you can see this in several different ways. Either it means a lot of overpriced and average players are flooding the transfer market or you might think there could be some bargains around, if you look carefully. As usual it’s probably a bit of both.
Anyway, is Lenglet one of those potential bargain players given he’s an established international defender and is he the sort of player who could be what the Blues need?
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Centre-back doesn’t seem like the most pressing area of the team for transfer spending given the huge importance of sorting out the future at right-back and ensuring Everton have more pace and goal-scoring threat up front.
But just as with his predecessor Ancelotti, Benitez does seem to be looking to strengthen that area of the team and this fits with his approach and priorities of course.
Lenglet is the right sort of age at 26 and he’s also a left-footed defender, which while not critical does at least give an ideal sort of balance in a central defensive partnership. The French international is also very comfortable on the ball, so important for defenders in modern football.
He is actually very similar to Juventus and Turkey defender Merih Demiral. Both are also about the same age and are each available for roughly the same sort of fee.
Lenglet actually featured regularly for Barcelona last season and only signed a new contract in October so it’s a slightly odd link to make.
While again as always these reports are difficult to be sure of, the weight of rumours about signing another central defender continue and it does seem increasingly likely the Blues might well move for one in this summer’s market.