Everton make official approach to sign Newcastle United midfielder Sean Longstaff
Everton have made an official approach to sign Sean Longstaff from Newcastle United this month, according to The Mirror.
The newspaper’s print edition reported on 7 January [page 56] that the Blues hoped Newcastle would offer up Longstaff, 24, in a player-plus-cash deal for their wantaway left-back Lucas Digne.
However, it is understood that the Frenchman wants to sign for a Champions League club, ruling out a move to St James’ Park.
The Mirror adds that as a result, Digne does not want to sign for Newcastle but he’s being tracked by Chelsea, Leicester, West Ham and Aston Villa.
Underwhelming deal
Rafa Benitez’s bid to improve the Everton squad must be tough considering the Financial Fair Play limitations at Goodison Park.
However, after spending £30million on Vitaly Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson, those issues seem to have disappeared overnight with a move to sign Longstaff from Newcastle now being made.
Longstaff’s contract at St James’ Park expires at the end of the season so it’s not as though he’s going to cost much money for the Toffees.
However, the Merseyside club is likely to be very close to the line in terms of what they can and can’t spend this month without relying on player sales.
Digne simply has to go to balance the books but clubs know that so it’s as though Everton have done their transfer business the wrong way around.
Why didn’t we sell Digne first and then sign Patterson and Mykolenko with the money gained from cashing in?
Clubs know that Digne and Benitez has fallen out, they know we have FFP issues and they know that they can frustrate us with lowball offers.
It’s a bit worrying, really.
In other Everton news, Farhad Moshiri and Rafa Benitez are at odds over signing this player.
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