Michael Ball reacts to big Everton transfer news
In a bizarre twist on Wednesday afternoon, Everton became involved in arguably the biggest transfer story of what was a busy day.
On a day that saw Tottenham Hotspur sign Steven Bergwijn and offload Kyle Walker-Peters to Southampton, and Manchester United secure an agreement to sign Bruno Fernandes, it was the Toffees who stole the show… kind of.
No, they didn’t make a big signing themselves – sorry to get your hopes up. They merely resisted someone else’s attempts to make their star man their new signing.
Sky Sports News reported that the Merseyside outfit have rejected an £85million bid from Spanish champions Barcelona for forward Richarlison.
Now, former Toffees defender Michael Ball has provided his reaction to the big news.
“Is it a statement from EFC to turn down a bid from Barca £85M for Richie.[?],” he wrote on his personal Twitter account.
“Brazilian international number 9! Peanuts! If he does go have we got time to replace him.[?] Can’t be having a [Romelu] Lukaku 2.0 situation!”
Has Ball got this one right?
Pretty much, yeah. The club certainly don’t have time to replace a player of Richarlison’s quality in this transfer window, that’s for sure.
However, Richarlison isn’t Brazil’s starting number nine when everyone’s fit, is he? He wouldn’t beat out people like Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino and Neymar for a place in his country’s front three, would he?
Still, you know what Ball is getting at. In today’s market, £85million simply isn’t going to get you a 22-year-old of Richarlison’s quality.
In other Everton news, a former England international has ripped into a Toffees first team star.