Everton want to sign Ruben Vinagre, Kevin Thelwell loves him
Everton are interested in signing Sporting CP defender Ruben Vinagre, with Kevin Thelwell a huge fan of the player according to Liverpool ECHO.
The Toffees are looking to bring in the former Wolves full-back as cover for Vitalii Mykolenko on the left hand side of the defence.
Reports from Portugal claim that a loan deal has been agreed with Everton to pay the full amount of his wages, and while the ECHO don’t say that the deal is that far advanced they have confirmed that the interest in the player is genuine.
It would see Vinagre reunited with director of football Thelwell, who gave the 23-year-old a five-year contract at Wolves back in 2018 after an impressive debut season with the club helped them earn promotion to the Premier League.
Thelwell knows the player well and has publicly praised him for his maturity and attitude in the past too, so could well be the driving force behind the interest in a transfer.
Depth
Last season after the sale of Lucas Digne and arrival of Mykolenko in January, we saw several players filling in at left-back and playing out of position.
Jonjoe Kenny has left the club to move to the Bundesliga, while Mason Holgate and Ben Godfrey are naturally centre-backs.
Niels Nkounkou has returned from a loan spell and could potentially do the job, but it seems Lampard wants more top flight experience to do the job and Vinagre can provide that.
He is equally capable of playing in a back four or as a wing-back in a back five, something Everton have adopted since Lampard’s arrival at the club and a loan would match up with the club’s financial problems and be a cheap deal.
This is a deal with lots of moving parts currently but it seems that Everton have got their eye on summer signing number two and they have Mr. Thelwell to thank for it.