Everton in advanced talks to sign Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa with personal terms no issue
Everton are in advanced talks over a move to sign Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa, The Athletic have reported.
According to the outlet’s website on 18 June the Toffees have not yet agreed personal terms with the 20-year-old, but that is not expected to be an issue.
Midfielder Iroegbunam is keen to move for more game time, while Everton are looking to make a signing at the position amid uncertainty over the future of Amadou Onana.
The Belgian international has been subject to a number of transfer approaches, including from Villa Park [The Times, 14 June], and the Toffees are hoping to sell him to help solve profit and sustainability pressures.
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Having spent the 2022/23 season on loan at QPR Iroegbunam only made 15 first-team appearances under Unai Emery last season.
And with Villa looking at deals for the likes of Onana and Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher, while signing former Everton star Ross Barkley, it doesn’t look like he is set to get greater opportunities under the Spaniard moving forward.
On the contrary the squad at Goodison Park is relatively thin after successive transfer windows operating under relative austerity, and if Onana is sold for big money there would be a big gap in the midfield options.
If a sale for the exit-linked Toffees star is on the cards soon it would also help Everton withstand interest in Jarrad Branthwaite, so should the 22-year-old leave to be replaced by Iroegbunam while the prized centre-back stays it might be seen as a worthy trade-off.
Despite the presumed takeover by Dan Friedkin now in the offing and potentially helping to ease the grander financial issues at the club, even the Roma chief’s arrival wouldn’t have an immediate effect on PSR calculations.
So the transfer expenditure isn’t likely to be huge this summer once again, but an affordable deal for a young Premier League midfielder who has regular starting experience in the Championship could be a useful one, in the mould of fellow James Garner’s move from Manchester United two years ago [Sky Sports].
In other Everton news, takeover fears have emerged in Italy amid major financial predictions around the Toffees’ future.
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