El Bilal Toure ‘finally’ decides to accept offer in Everton transfer battle against Atalanta
El Bilal Touré has “finally decided” to “respect his first opinion” and accept a move to Atalanta over Everton, according to L’Equipe.
It what the French outlet term “a battle until the last moment”to sign the 21-year-old striker he has now gone with the Serie A side.
L’Equipe had previously reported on 7 July that Atalanta were “one step ahead of the competition, especially Everton” for the Mali international, and it appears that has now born out despite a late push from Goodison Park.
Fabrizio Romano and Alan Myers had both reported a burst of activity as the two sides appeared to be neck and neck on Sunday night (23 July), but amid a report from Mundo Deportivo in Spain (25 July) which says Almeria have decided at club level to go with a slightly higher offer from Bergamo, it looks like their young striker has made the same decision.
According to L’Equipe the Atalanta bid will be worth a total close to €33million [£28.3m] with bonuses included.
Fallen at the last
It is clearly better for the Everton hierarchy to be working hard to land a much-needed goalscorer than sitting on their hands at Goodison Park, but missing out in the final stages ends with the same result.
Touré looked like an uphill battle once it became clear that Atalanta were heavily in the race as they look to find a replacement for their own exit-bound Rasmus Hojlund.
But the Toffees must have thought the door was still open otherwise they wouldn’t have pushed it all the way, and it seems like they were in with a chance until the Italian’s were able to drop in a final offer after setting up a deal to sell Jeremie Boga to Nice.
Everton must have contingency plans so there is no time to lose in throwing their energy behind them with Sean Dyche still in need of attacking reinforcements.
It was the same story a year ago with Frank Lampard needing a replacement for the recently-sold Richarlison, so the fact that the club has come this far to still in the same position isn’t great.
Neal Maupay didn’t prove to be the right answer last summer so the Toffees will have to guard against making a similar mistake this time round after apparently missing out on their prime target.
In other Everton news, a journalist believes there is an attacking signing that is still very much alive as he has named it “one to watch” before the close of the window.