The 'mad' reason Everton didn't sign Abdul Fatawu

Abdul Fatawu had a frustrating outing against Everton for Ipswich Town last weekend.

The Toffees ran out 1-0 victors over the Tractor Boys, with Thierno Barry netting the only goal of the game.

Everton's situation was helped when Ipswich winger Fatawu, signed from Leicester City in the summer, was sent off in the 67th minute.

The 22-year-old Ghana international was already on a yellow card when he was shown a second yellow and subsequent red for simulation.

Fatawu had caused Everton some issues to that point, but left his side facing an uphill task.

Had things played out differently, Fatawu could have been representing Everton on Saturday instead of Ipswich.

Why did Everton not sign Abdul Fatawu?

Fatawu has been a player on Everton's radar for a number of years now, but a move has never materialised.

Indeed, Everton's interest stretches as far back as his time at Sporting CP, but ultimately he joined Leicester in 2023.

In the summer of 2025, Everton were looking at making a move but it once again failed to come to fruition.

And there were reports that a deal was close to being struck this summer just gone, but ultimately Ipswich won that race.

The Athletic journalist Patrick Boyland, speaking on the Blue Room podcast, spoke generally about Everton's interest but also the "mad" reason why a move did not happen in 2025.

He said: "Fatawu had a mad game, but there was plenty of good in the performance before he got sent off.

"Yeah, Everton looked at him, Everton first looked at him when he was playing for Sporting in Portugal, I think there was an opportunity to take him on loan and he went to Leicester instead.

"I think Leicester were in the Championship at that point, I think the feeling was he needed maybe a lower EFL loan before kicking on. So, they've looked at him a few times.

"They looked at him not (just in) the summer just gone but the summer before that, but were quoted a pretty mad price from Leicester at the time, pretty comparable to what Everton paid for (Tyler) Dibling.

"You can see there's a lot of talent there, I thought he gave Everton a very good game at times, but he's capable of really infuriating moments too, we saw that at various junctures including when he gets sent off."

Would Abdul Fatawu have been a good signing for Everton?

Fatawu has absolute bag fulls of talent there is no denying that.

But maybe there is a feeling that Fatawu is still a work in progress, which is understandable given he is only 22.

And you have to think that in Tyler Dibling and Tyrique George, Everton have enough in attack in terms of promising talent.

So, would he have been a good signing? Potentially the answer to that is absolutely yes.

It does, though, feel like perhaps it would have been the sort of risk Everton did not want to take given they have some real promise out wide already.