Isaac Price confirmation emerges amid Everton exit talk, Standard Liege want him after ‘chaos’
Standard Liege manager Ronny Deila has confirmed the Belgian club’s interest in Everton midfielder Isaac Price but doesn’t know if the deal is done.
Price is closing in on a summer exit, with the box-to-box midfielder on the verge of signing a pre-contract agreement with Standard Liege, according to The Athletic.
And according to Belgian media outlet DH Les Sports [11 April], the transfer could go ahead soon with the 19-year-old not keen on signing a new deal on Merseyside, having only signed his first professional contract with the Toffees in September.
However, despite confirming Standard Liege’s interest in the Toffees youngster, Deila told DH Les Sports [12 April] that he doesn’t know when the deal will be completed but has held talks with the club’s director of football and wants any transfer business done quickly to avoid last season’s “chaos”.
He said: “I don’t know if it’s done or not, but he is indeed a player we are following. We spoke with Fergal (Harkin) and the idea is to have a different transfer window from last season, when it was sometimes chaos when recruiting two or three players before the transfer window closed.”
Sorry to see him go
Price may just be 19 years old, but there are others his age in the Premier League who are playing regularly for their respective clubs, which is not the case for the talented teenager.
The talented central midfielder has been handed just 32 minutes in the current league campaign, having to compete with the likes of Abdoulaye Doucoure, Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana for a place in Sean Dyche’s starting XI.
And given the pressure of the club’s situation in the Premier League, they couldn’t afford to be handing starts to inexperienced stars given their English top-flight status is at serious risk.
He could well have stayed and fought for his Everton place, and he may be handed a more prominent role next season should they get relegated to the Championship, but the youngster clearly has other plans which are perfectly understandable given he desperately needs guaranteed minutes to develop even further.
It seems as if Liege will give him the guaranteed and consistent opportunities he craves which mean it’s the ideal move for the teenager, but arguably not one for the Everton faithful who will be sorry to see Price leave in such circumstances.