Daniel Feliciano

Mon 3 July 2023 18:10, UK

Everton are ready to pay the £34.3m release clause to sign Almeria striker El Bilal Toure, but want to do it in 3 or 4 instalments according to Sacha Tavolieri.

The Belgian journalist revealed on Monday (3 July) that the Toffees had tabled a €40m (£34.3m) bid to sign the Mali international from La Liga as Sean Dyche looks to bolster his front line.

Now the journalist has added more details about the bid, and revealed that Fulham are also strongly in the race in case Aleksandar Mitrovic leaves this summer.

“I understand now Everton formally expressed by mail to Almeria their intentions to lift the release clause of €40M (£34.3m) but wants to do it in 3 to 4 installments,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account (3 July).

“Fulham considers El Bilal Touré as a priority target if Aleksandar Mitrovic leaves this summer.

“A lot of agents speaking about the striker in European Football on the market makes the situation a bit messy. Wait and see.”

Sensible

Release clauses are generally paid for up front because they’re supposed to be a deterrent to clubs who want to sign a team’s best player.

But in this case Almeria will be happy to see a £34.3m bid come in for Toure because they spent only a fraction of that amount to sign him a year ago and would be making a huge profit on the deal.

Everton are unlikely to be able to afford such a big fee in one lump sum because of their current financial situation, but a striker is needed and spending this fee must bring results quickly.

Spreading the payment terms over three or four instalments will help with our current FFP situation and would likely still please Almeria because they’d still be guaranteed the full amount of his clause even if it isn’t all up front.

Finally the club are starting to make moves for the transfer window and it’s needed because we can’t be in the same situation as last season again.

In other Everton news, 20-goal striker targeted amid “limited budget” claims.