Arnaut Danjuma misses Villarreal pre-season friendly as Everton transfer decision made
Everton target Arnaut Danjuma missed Villarreal’s pre-season clash against Altach as he looks to join AC Milan on loan this summer, according to Diario AS.
The Spanish newspaper reported on Thursday (20 July, pg 12) that Milan are very keen on the former Bournemouth striker for a £3.4million loan, but Villarreal intends to put an obligation to buy clause in the contract.
The 26-year-old was attracting attention from Everton, but Milan’s determination to win his signature may prove too much for the Toffees.
Shame
Everton fans may be quite disappointed to see Danjuma move to Milan.
Danjuma has disappointed Toffees fans twice in seven months after he subbed the Merseyside club to join Tottenham on loan in January after reportedly already agreeing to move to Everton [Sky Sports].
However, with Premier League experience last season with Spurs and quite impressive goalscoring stats across his former clubs, he looked to be a quality asset to Sean Dyche’s side.
However, AC Milan’s pull proved to be too much and perhaps playing for a strong Serie A side that qualified for the Champions League seemed more appealing to Danjuma.
Everton are keen to bolster their attacking options ahead of next season, having been linked to a host of forwards including Willy Gnonto [Sky Sports Italia], Victor Boniface [Sacha Tavolieri] and Brian Brobbey [Sky Sports], so they have plenty of avenues to explore now that a deal for Danjuma seems to be unavailable.
However, while he does possess Premier League experience, his Tottenham spell was not a total success, scoring twice in 12 appearances in north London, so perhaps a more proven striker is on Dyche’s shopping list this window if Everton are to improve their poor attacking output from last season.
But the loan move may have suited Everton more as they continue to struggle with finances this window and will likely have to sell assets to raise funds for improvements elsewhere.
In other Everton news, the Toffees reportedly do not have the funds to improve their bid for an “unproven” La Liga talent.