Everton must seek swift transfer resolution on Demarai Gray sale, replacements desperately needed
Everton are reportedly sticking to their guns on the sale of Demarai Gray to Fulham and are still awaiting a “decent fee” but the Toffees must ensure a swift resolution with Sean Dyche desperately needing replacements.
According to The Guardian (4 August), personal terms are already agreed for Gray who prefers a move to West London, but Everton are standing firm on his impending exit unless Fulham presents a tempting offer.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano tweeted early on 5 August that Gray has missed Everton training for three consecutive days as he only wants to join Fulham but is still waiting for an agreement between the two clubs.
Gray’s stance on his Goodison Park future is abundantly clear and given Fulham’s incredible progress under former Everton boss Marco Silva last season and the Toffees’ consistent flirting with relegation, Gray is well inclined to favour a move to the Cottagers.
The former Leicester City man was signed from Bayer Leverkusen for just £1.7m in 2021. However, things haven’t quite turned out well during his two years at the club with Everton avoiding relegation in consecutive seasons and his lack of starts under Sean Dyche.
It looked pretty clear what Dyche thought of the new Jamaican international leaving him on the bench on several occasions last term when Everton were in desperate need of attacking inspiration.
Such treatment will not have pleased Gray one bit and that will have given him all the hints he needed to try and seek pastures new elsewhere and Fulham are well placed to hand him the starts his talents warrant.
On his day, the former Leicester City man is indeed unplayable possessing great skill, speed, technical acumen and influence in the final third to be an effective winger at any club in the Premier League, and that is certainly reflected in Everton’s £10m-plus valuation [iNews, June 28]..
Previously hailed as “inspirational” by Martin Keown – the Everton winger possesses undeniable pace and creativity which could cause chaos for any defence, averaging 1.2 key passes, 1.7 shots on goal and one successful dribble per game last season.
Gray may well be feeling his time is up at Everton. The Birmingham-born wing wizard is now reaching his peak years, with him turning 27 at the end of this month and he certainly doesn’t want to be settling for a place on the bench any longer.
It’s certainly not an ideal situation for any club to possess a player that is so desperate to leave that he doesn’t even want to train with the rest of the squad anymore.
That is the situation Everton find themselves in right now, but their stance is abundantly clear, Gray won’t leave unless Fulham present a tempting offer which they haven’t yet.
However, with the Premier League campaign just days away, Dyche is still desperately short on the attacking front and needs more signings for which selling Gray could fund.
Completing the signing of Arnaut Danjuma was certainly a statement acquisition for the Toffees, but it’s clear if Everton are to avoid last year’s relegation battle, Dyche needs a plethora of attacking talent at his disposal. The club can ill afford to waste time on sealing Gray’s inevitable exit.
In other Everton news, the Toffees must firm up their approach to sign a leading Juventus defensive wonder this summer.