Everton in hunt to sign Brighton star Yves Bissouma
Everton are one of a number of clubs who have made an enquiry over Brighton midfielder Yves Bissouma, according to the Sunday People.
The newspaper reports in their print edition [May 2] that Arsenal are winning the race to sign the 24-year-old with the Toffees, West Ham and Tottenham also approaching Brighton over a potential summer swoop.
Bissouma, who impressed for Brighton in the 0-0 draw with Everton last month, is reportedly valued at £30million and “looks certain to exit” the AMEX in the summer transfer window.
While Everton are interested, it doesn’t sound as though it’s a race they’ll win with Arsenal said to be “confident” they’ll sign the Mali midfield ace.
A lot of money
If we’re signing someone for £30million then it has to be someone who’s going to be a mainstay of Carlo Ancelotti’s starting line-up.
Would Bissouma be that?
Yes, he’s done really well at Brighton this season but he’s a player who’s in a similar mould to Abdoulaye Doucoure while we do have plenty of other central options in players like Andre Gomes, Allan and Tom Davies.
That’s not to say Bissouma isn’t better than any of them – he’s certainly better than Davies.
But we’ve thrown a lot of money at signing duds in recent years. Why not sink our teeth into a young, up-and-coming talent from elsewhere in the world rather than splurging huge amounts of cash on Premier League players?
Bissouma did really well against us last month though when we drew 0-0 at the AMEX.
Jamie Carragher lavished praise on the box-to-box midfielder after the match on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football [April 12].
“The biggest talking point from the game was Bissouma, who was man of the match and the best player by a mile on the pitch,” Carragher said, as quoted by Football365.
“He really does look like a top-quality player. He was excellent at Old Trafford for Brighton and he just looked head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch [against Everton].”
Marcelo Bielsa has also been raving about Bissouma this week ahead of Leeds’ 2-0 defeat to Brighton.
Speaking earlier in the week, as quoted by LeedsLive, Bielsa called the former Lille ace “a great player”.
No one really says a bad word about Bissouma.
But we just don’t see how we can justify spending that much money on him unless there are a couple of players who are shifted out in the summer.
In other Everton news, Marcel Brands wants this youngster to replace a senior first-team player.
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