Everton and Gylfi Sigurdsson hold transfer talks amid Al-Hilal interest
Everton and Gylfi Sigurdsson have held transfer talks with Saudi Arabia giants Al-Hilal, according to Turkish journalist Ekrem Konur.
The Twitter-verified reporter, with over 100,000 followers, is regularly mentioned by the Saudia Arabia account of Goal, the online news outlet boasting over 2.5million followers themselves.
Konur made the claim about Sigurdsson on his personal Twitter profile on Monday [21/06/21] and said that the Icelandic midfielder is “not willing to play” in Saudi Arabia, but mentioned that “a new meeting” could soon be on the agenda.
End of the road
Sigurdsson is a player that has come under severe criticism from supporters at times during his stay on Merseyside.
He joined for big money from Swansea City in 2017 but he has failed to live up to his billing as a goalscoring midfielder, aside from his 13-goal haul in the 2018/19 Premier League season.
In the other three seasons combined, he has scored just 12 Premier League goals.
He’s still drawn considerable praise, though, including from former Blues hero Leon Osman, who called him “incredible” on BBC Match of the Day in April, and the former England international has been a regular supporter of him, and backed his signing four years ago.
But one of the issues is that Sigurdsson is not a dynamic player who chases the opposition down, so when he’s not contributing in front of goal there is very little use of him on the pitch.
He’s still been a firm favourite of managers – he made 36 Premier League appearances under Carlo Ancelotti last season – but we need a younger, more vibrant side, and he just doesn’t fit into that.
The 31-year-old’s contract doesn’t expire until June 2022 [Transfermarkt], so he may well be looking to stay until then, particularly if he is not set on a move to Saudi Arabia.
But, if we can, we should look to move on an ageing player who should not be a core part of our first team next season.
In other Everton news, the Blues have sounded out this 63-year-old manager with two league titles in Europe.
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