Everton pursuit of Willy Gnonto finished as development emerges from Leeds United, £25m transfer fee must be spent on striker
Everton look to have moved significantly further away from a deal for Willy Gnonto after developments at Leeds United, and the cash that has been offered for him must now be spent wisely.
The Toffees have been chasing the wantaway Italian international throughout the summer and been met with flat refusals at Elland Road.
After Everton had a bid worth £25million rejected the 19-year-old submitted a written transfer request to try to force through the move last week [The Athletic, 18 August], and it was widely believed that the Toffees were set to make yet another subsequent offer [Fabrizio Romano, 18 August].
But it emerged via The Athletic’s Phil Hay on Tuesday (22 August) that Gnonto has been brought back into the Leeds United first-team squad by manager Daniel Farke, after talks involving CEO Angus Kinnear in the “past 24 hours”.
That would suggest that there is a softening of the stand off between the player and the hierarchy and a route back into the team.
Leeds already didn’t want to sell him, as one of the only players in their squad who had no relegation release clause, and him holding himself out of multiple games and then requesting a transfer looked to have broken the relationship, but this is a major step in the other direction and may have completely ruled out a move to Goodison Park.
An injury crisis has engulfed Sean Dyche’s squad in the wide areas, with Alex Iwobi going off in the 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday (20 August) to join Dwight McNeil as a fitness worry.
In addition loan signing from Leeds United Jack Harrison arrived injured and hasn’t had any preseason, while fellow loanee Arnaut Danjuma has not yet been fit to start.
But when all are back the Toffees look fairly well stocked on the wings, even if Demarai Gray is sold before the window closes.
Striker, as has been the case for at least the past year, seems to be by far the greater priority with Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s luck getting worse and worse.
The England international started his first game of the season at Villa Park after endless injury set-backs and was immediately ruled back out again with a fractured cheek bone.
With Neal Maupay never having really fit in the system at Everton and Youssef Chermiti yet to play a minute, while being very inexperienced himself, Dyche needs goals from somewhere else.
A pursuit of Hugo Ekitike has apparently been blocked amid discord behind the scenes, after El Bilal Touré ended up at Atalanta instead of Merseyside, and Southampton’s Che Adams doesn’t look like the regular scoring answer the club has long been waiting for, even if he would perhaps be better than nothing.
Money might be tight at the club, but if there was £25m-plus available to go after Gnonto it is time to direct that to proven number nine who can properly stand in for Calvert-Lewin when required now the teenage Leeds man looks to be going nowhere.
In other Everton news, a new contract has been offered to a talented first-team player to prevent him from jumping ship amid growing transfer interest.