Everton transfer news as Toffees line up to sign Boulaye Dia with 24-year-old record set to fall
Boulaye Dia is focused on breaking records at Salernitana but Everton are now lining up with interest alongside Leeds United ahead of the transfer window, la Citta de Salerno reports.
The Senegal international is on loan with the Serie A club from Villarreal in La Liga, ahead of an expected €12million [£10.6million] permanent deal at the end of the season.
He has reached 11 league goals for the club this year, one off the record held by their former striker Marco Di Vaio from the 1998/99 season.
The end of the season is approaching and with it the summer transfer window so the report states that suitors are “starting to line up”.
Everton and Leeds are both noted as long-term admirers, having “been following him for months now” but current reigning Italian champions AC Milan are also now studying the 26-year-old.
Locked on
The Toffees have been chasing this deal for months, so if the switch from Frank Lampard to Sean Dyche as manager hasn’t ended the interest they have to be in a reasonably strong position.
Clearly Dia is proving to be a great success for Salernitana, and if he breaks their single-season Serie A scoring record in his first campaign with the club there is going to be an eye on keeping him.
But given how cheap their redemption clause is, and the knowledge that Premier League money will surely give them a healthy profit immediately, there is every chance a deal could be done.
Plus, with the Italian side interested in Neal Maupay [Fabrizio Romano, 21 March] it has to be a priority to aim for a swap deal, with the Frenchman in purgatory at Goodison Park and proving little use to Everton.
It would be a sickener if Dia does move this summer and another club is able to steal in at the last for him, but Toffees fans have grown used to disappointment in the transfer market.
Staying in the Premier League is surely a prerequisite to landing the man who has six assists to go with his 11 goals, but the Maupay angle leaves a door that otherwise might have been closed by financial pressures wide open if Salernitana are willing to negotiate.