Report: Everton ready to pay £36m for Lazio midfielder Luis Alberto
Everton are ready to pay £36million for Lazio midfielder Luis Alberto after the ex-Liverpool midfielder fell out with the Italian club’s hierarchy, according to La Lazio Siamo Noi.
The Lazio news website reports on their website that Carlo Ancelotti is a “great admirer” of the 28-year-old and the Toffees manager wanted to sign him during his spell in charge at Napoli.
It is understood that Lazio owner Claudio Lotito wants £63million for Alberto, who would rather return to former club Sevilla. However, Sevilla cannot pay anywhere near what Lazio want for the midfielder and Everton are ready to stump up around half as much.
Interestingly, if Everton were to buy Alberto from Lazio, 30 per cent of any transfer fee would go to Merseyside rivals Liverpool as a sell-on clause was included in the deal that took the Spaniard from Anfield to Stadio Olimpico in 2016.
Juventus are also said to be interested in Alberto but based on this report, Everton are serious players in the hunt to sign the former Sevilla ace.
Alberto has made 11 appearances in all competition for Lazio this season, scoring one goal in the process which came in a 2-1 win over Bologna in Serie A.
According to stats by WyScout, Alberto ranks first in Serie A for the number of smart passes this season [28]. Only two players have completed more through balls than him [19] in this season with the Spaniard boasting a 52.63% accuracy that also ranks him third in the Italian top-flight.
He also ranks second for passes into the final-third [106].
On WyScout’s glossary, a smart pass is defined as a “creative and penetrative pass that attempts to break the opposition’s defensive lines”. A deep completion is a pass that is not a cross but is played into an area with 20m of the opposing goal.
Alberto’s one of the best central midfielders in Serie A and signing him could be a smart move by Everton but the player seems to have his heart set on Sevilla and Lotito is demanding a lot of money.
We’d be surprised if the Toffees can pull this one off but we don’t want to under-estimate the pull that Ancelotti has.
In other Everton news, Kevin Campbell has predicted the scoreline of the Blues’ clash against Burnley this weekend.