By Daniel Feliciano

18th Oct, 2022 | 1:10pm

Everton could have to pay £56.6m to land Mykhaylo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk - Fabrizio Romano

Everton could have to pay up to £56.6m to land Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk in the January transfer window according to Fabrizio Romano.

The Toffees had a big money bid rejected during the summer transfer window and were expected to return with their interest during the winter, although his performances in the Champions League have attracted big interest from other clubs now too, including Newcastle.

And according to Romano on his CaughtOffside substack [18 October], the player’s transfer value is likely to have shot up because of those performances meaning he could cost as much as €60-65m (£52.2-56.6m).

“He’s a player whose value has most likely shot up since the summer,” he said.

“Shakhtar Donetsk wanted around €50m for him in August, probably €40m plus add-ons were enough… today, I’m sure they want way more than €50m for their star, it could probably be as high as €60-65m.”

Unlikely

Everton had a chance of signing Mudryk in the summer window, but when they saw a bid rejected late on that was probably the end of that conversation.

There is no doubt that the Ukrainian is a supreme talent and he has caught the eye of fans, pundits and top clubs all over the world with his performances this season on the biggest stage.

However Everton simply don’t have the finances to be able to compete with those clubs, and with this new asking price it makes it near impossible that this deal will take place whether in January or next summer.

It was unlikely anyway, considering we can’t offer him European football never mind Champions League football and some of the clubs reportedly interested can, but this now confirms it.

If we have money to spend in the winter then we must spend it wisely, and while he’s a top talent we could probably put such a sum to better use by bolstering the squad in multiple areas rather than just one.