How much Ngal'ayel Mukau may cost Everton as 'unrefusable' price revealed

Ngal'ayel Mukau certainly wouldn't come cheap for Everton.

Everton fans were hoping to see an ambitious summer of spending from The Friedkin Group, especially given how their 2025-26 season fell away towards the end.

David Moyes' squad clearly needs some fresh juice and quality added, but so far, only three signings have been made and two of those, Tyrique George and Merlin Rohl, aren't new faces in that respect.

However, the Toffees could really signal their transfer intentions with a deal for Mukau, who has played 78 times for Lille since joining them in the summer of 2024.

The 21-year-old has just represented DR Congo in all four of their matches at this summer's World Cup, and is clearly an ascending young talent.

However, the Toffees may have to spend the kind of money they've never spent before to bring the midfielder to Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Why Everton may need record fee to sign Ngal'ayel Mukau

Goodison News has been following reports linking Everton with a move for Mukau this summer.

Despite having already bolstered their engine room, Mukau's ability to play pretty much anywhere across midfield would make him a valuable asset in the squad.

Nobody is more aware of Mukau's value than Lille president Olivier Letang, however.

Speaking in August 2025 via Get French Football News, Letang made it clear that Lille had no intention of selling the ex-KV Mechelen starlet, but did name the ballpark figure that would be impossible to turn down.

"The desire is to keep them (key players). No later than this morning did I say in a call that, for one of our players, the door was closed," he said at the time.

"Unless an offer of €70million euros (£59.5m) arrives. It would be difficult to refuse something that is unrefusable, but the objective now is to keep the lads who are here."

So, if that view still stands within Lille, then Everton's £50m package deal for Richarlison would no longer hold the crown as the Toffees' most expensive ever signing if Mukau was to join.

The midfielder didn't take a step backwards in 2025-26 either, and so it's unlikely that Lille's asking price will have dropped.

How did Mukau compare with his Ligue 1 rivals last season?

Deployed as both a six, eight and even in the 10 for Lille, Mukau played his most minutes at right midfield for Lille in 2025-26.

Turning out 30 times in Ligue 1, he started 19 of those and scored one goal, which perhaps shows that there's some way to go in terms of his development if he's going to be an attacking player going forward.

However, Mukau still put up some very impressive underlying numbers last term, that ranked him amongst the best right wingers in the French top flight.

As per FotMob, his 87.2 per cent pass success rate ranked him in the leading 10.1 percentile of Ligue 1 players in his position.

Meanwhile, he was also well above average for his 18 accurate long balls, 52 per cent dribble success rate, 13 aerial duels won and 78 duels won respectively.

In defence, Mukau again shared company with the best in his position for his 52 defensive contributions, 29 tackles, 14 interceptions and 13 possessions won in the final third respectively.

Overall then, Mukau does present as somewhat of an unrefined talent, but if and when he is a fully polished player, the ability and potential is there for him to become a top player at the highest level.

So, it would certainly be a risk to splash a record-fee on Mukau, but if it all came together for him at Everton, then there's every chance the Toffees could still turn a big profit on him in the future.