Everton can take lead of Matheus Nunes race as Liverpool pull out
Everton have been searching for a new midfielder all summer and one of their targets has already signed in Belgian Amadou Onana.
But Frank Lampard would like more than just the 20-year-old rock and one player who could have just become available again is Sporting CP ace Matheus Nunes.
O Jogo reported in their print edition on 25 June [Page 7] that the Toffees had submitted a bid to sign the 23-year-old who Pep Guardiola described as “one of the best players in the world today,” as quoted by the Daily Mail.
Talks have cooled since then however and other Premier League sides have surged ahead in the race to sign the Portuguese international.
One of those were Merseyside rivals Liverpool but the Daily Mail reported on 11 August that Jurgen Klopp’s side have pulled out of the race to sign Nunes, leaving Wolves as the only challengers.
The 23-year-old has a release clause of £51million that, if triggered, would leave the Liga Portugal side helpless to deny his departure if he sees the right move become available.
But he is not keen on a move to Molineux at the moment which could mean that Goodison Park becomes his most likely destination this summer if he leaves at all.
Everton could do with another body in the midfield and someone who will be able to get the ball down and control a game rather than the extremely energetic Onana and Abdoulaye Doucoure.
There has to be a balance within the squad and the playing XI because no team can function if all 11 players are exactly the same.
Nunes could work in a three-man midfield with the aforementioned duo and add that touch of flare while his partners do a lot of the running around him and make his life as easy as possible to start unlocking the defence of the opposition.