Reports out of France this morning suggest that Everton have submitted a bid for the young Frenchman Thierno Barry of Villarreal.
The initial report comes from Marc Mechenoua of Le Parisien, a news outlet in the French capital. The Liverpool Echo included the news as part of their live transfer updates starting this morning.
It was noted last week by Sports Witness that Everton sparked a conversation with the Spanish side regarding Barry's availability, who has a €40 million release clause, but nothing appeared to be imminent in terms of an actual bid.
This recent update certainly changes the scenario a little bit, as Mechenoua's post indicates that Barry is "David Moyes's priority in attack."
The initial bid is said to be "in excess of €30 million" for the player.
The question of the move is two fold.
First, are Everton willing to pay the release clause, if necessary, which is only €10 million more than the money they were willing to spend to bring Liam Delap to Merseyside? If so, will Villarreal be willing to sell at that price?
Second, does the Spanish club want to sell their young talent at all? They certainly don't need to, since the striker's current contract keeps him at the club until 2029, but would there be concern about not taking the money in hand and hoping the player will be more valuable down the line?
This would be something for Villarreal to weigh if Everton have indeed submitted a bid. But it is undeniably true that if the Toffees were able to make this transfer work out, it would be a major statement of intent from the Friedkin Group that the club are ready to start the march back into Premier League relevance.