Hugo Ekitike left in ‘hellish situation’ by transfer failure after Everton were ready to sign him
Hugo Ekitike has been left in limbo at Paris Saint-Germain after he didn’t get a move away this summer with Everton among the clubs who wanted to sign him, according to Foot Mercato.
The French news outlet reported on their website on 7 September that the 21-year-old has been left in a “hellish situation” at the Parc des Princes where he is seen as the “big loser of the transfer window” because he has virtually no prospect of playing under Luis Enrique.
The Toffees were joined by West Ham, Eintracht Frankfurt, Crystal Palace, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Lens and Lyon as those willing to bring him in during the window, but he refused to be used as a make-weight for Randal Kolo Muani from the Bundesliga side and wasn’t given a move elsewhere.
The Toffees eventually landed Beto from Udinese on a deal expected to cost £25.75million [Sky Sports, 29 August], but which they won’t pay anything towards until the next financial year [i News, 6 September].
It had previously been suggested that different figures at Everton were not all on board with the attempt to sign Ekitike, with board members said to have eventually blocked the pursuit.
Lost out
From Everton’s point of view they got what they wanted with Beto, and the Portuguese looks to be the sort of physical profile who can substitute for Dominic Calvert-Lewin at last.
A move for Ekitike would have been more of a gamble for a younger option with less football in the past year, but the list of clubs ready to do a deal for him shows his attractiveness as a target.
It looks to have been much to his detriment that PSG were looking to include him in the move for Kolo Muani, and since they got his compatriot in from Germany anyway it seems it was a needless dynamic.
The youngster is now stuck in Paris will little prospect of any meaningful game time until at least January now, and is sure to be on the lists of a number of clubs when the winter window opens.
Whether the Ligue 1 champions will be more amenable to letting him go at that point remains to be seen, as they are currently set to pay him to do very little.
But it seems unlikely that Everton will be in a position to afford anything other than a cheap loan at that point anyway after committing around £40m to Beto and Youssef Chermiti, so Sean Dyche will have to hope his current options can start to find the net with regularity and he isn’t left scrambling again in the New Year.
In other Everton news, a group looking to invest in the club are deliberately shunning the limelight but Alan Myers reports they are “real and credible”.