Chelsea offer multiple loan deals to Everton in bid to buy Amadou Onana
Chelsea have offered to send multiple players on loan to Everton as they look to sign midfielder Amadou Onana, The Telegraph reports.
As with Newcastle’s pursuit of Anthony Gordon, the Stamford Bridge side are looking to take advantage of the situation following the sacking of Frank Lampard to land the Toffees’ £33.5million Belgian international.
Their initial offer was knocked back by the player but those close to the 21-year-old have not ruled out a move before the end of the month, and while the players on offer from Chelsea have not been named it is thought there could be difficulties in convincing them of agreeing to join the relegation battle at Goodison Park.
The report in The Telegraph on Thursday afternoon (26 January) said: “It is understood that Chelsea were prepared to offer a number of players on loan to Everton as part of a bid to sign Onana this month, but, so far, their initial proposal was rejected by the 21-year-old.
“Sources close to Onana have not yet ruled out a transfer before the window shuts, even though he only joined Everton from Lille in the summer, but Chelsea face a difficult task to structure a deal that would suit all parties.
“There is also the added complication that many of the players Chelsea were prepared to send in the opposite direction to Onana would not have been keen on a switch to relegation-threatened Everton.”
Disaster capitalism
The big sides with the big money are looking to squeeze the Toffees who are currently stuck in a sorry state, level on points with the bottom of the table and manager-less as the transfer deadline approaches.
The team is badly in need of new additions to try to lift the fortunes on the pitch, unless a new manager can transform the current squad’s form on their own.
Hakim Ziyech has re-emerged as a target for Everton this month [Fabrizio Romano, 25 January], having also been linked in the summer at a time when a whole host of players including Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were also thought to be of interest.
The futures of all three aren’t set in stone in West London and there may be a school of thought from the club’s perspective that multiple arrivals for the cost of one departure could be enough to turn the relegation battle around, although it is attack above all that needs help.
Armando Broja was a key target for Lampard in the summer but the Albania international has since suffered an injury that rules him out for the rest of the season.
It may be a moot point if both Onana and the prospective Chelsea loanees aren’t on board, but if the Todd Boehly-led spending spree is set to continue into the final days of the window there is still scope for a major deal to occur.
But while fans are now far more accepting of an exit for Gordon than when he almost went to Stamford Bridge in the previous window, losing the headline summer arrival at the same time could be much more unpopular.