Everton set to miss out on ‘complete’ forward El Bilal Toure as Atalanta close in on deal
It looks as though Everton are about to suffer a transfer blow as long-term target El Bilal Toure is reportedly set to sign for Serie A outfit Atalanta.
The Almeria striker seems to have been one of the Toffees’ primary targets this summer, with the La Liga side’s CEO Mohamed El Assy confirming to Diario de Almeria on 4 July that an offer had been made for the 21-year-old.
The Mirror then reported on 13 July that a bid worth £25million had come in from Everton for the Mali international, who his former Reims manager David Guion called a “very complete” player, but that offer fell short of his club’s £34million valuation.
It’s been widely noted that Sean Dyche has been desperate to get a deal over the line to bring a new forward into Goodison Park this summer and his pursuit of Toure now appears to have suffered a significant blow.
Sportitalia journalist Alfredo Pedulla reported on 19 July that the forward is “getting closer” to joining Atalanta, but he added that the Italian side will have to “wait for the evolutions” of Rasmus Hojlund’s proposed move to Manchester United before they can complete a deal for the Almeria man.
If a deal for Hojlund does go through, though, that will inject a huge amount of cash into the Serie A club’s transfer budget, as the Independent claim the deal taking the 20-year-old to Old Trafford could be worth a reported £60million.
With Everton operating on a tight budget this summer, there is no way the club can really battle it out with teams with that much money to spend and they certainly can’t afford to fork out £34million for one player, even if he is highly thought of across Europe.
It would probably be a hard sell anyway to convince Toure to choose the Toffees over Atalanta, who finished fifth in the league last season and will have Europa League football to offer the striker.
The latest development is likely to force Everton to move onto new targets as they look to strengthen their forward line this summer.
There have been a number of strikers linked to the club, but the best possible option could be to go all out on singing Moussa Dembele, as the 27-year-old Frenchman is available on a free transfer after leaving Lyon at the end of last season.
But they need to act quickly and decisively, as the club can’t afford to be short up front again next season and be caught up in another relegation battle.
In other Everton news, a winger is set to make a move to Goodison Park after his agent arrived in London to finalise the deal.