Why Everton won't be signing Abdul Fatawu despite claim agreement had been reached

Everton-linked Abdul Fatawu won't be making the move from Leicester to Merseyside this summer.

The 22-year-old winger's future has been a widely-covered subject in the East Midlands following Leicester's shock relegation to League One last season.

He scored nine goals and supplied eight assists in 44 appearances in the 2025-26 Championship as the Foxes suffered the drop.

Fatawu's strong performances in the second tier were followed up by four appearances for Ghana at the World Cup in North America, meaning that he'd been able to keep on catching the eye on a big stage.

And that's what he's been able to do, with Goodison News relaying news from Turkey last week that the winger had agreed terms to join Everton instead of Besiktas.

However, that appears to no longer be the case.

Everton beaten to the punch by Premier League rivals

As is the case in every transfer window, there's always the chance that agents, clubs and even players will leak news with ulterior motives.

No one will know for sure why Turkish journalist Murat Ozen reported that Everton agreed a deal to sign Fatawu, but that doesn't seem to be the case now with Ipswich reportedly closing in on a deal.

According to Sky Sports on Monday, Fatawu is undergoing a medical at Ipswich Town ahead of a £20million move from Leicester to Portman Road.

It is understood that the deal will be done within 24 hours and the Ghana international will join up with the Ipswich squad at their pre-season trainign camp in La Manga, Spain.

It's not to say that Ozen's report was wrong (there's always the possibility that Everton's agreement was hijacked by Ipswich, for example), but it does feel as though something was quite amiss for there to be such a drastic change of picture within just a few days.

What now for Everton if they're not signing Abdul Fatawu?

Luckily for the Toffees, it's still technically early days in the summer transfer window.

Even though we're in the final third of July, the World Cup will always slow down the progress of any deals, with it being much more likely that the bulk of business will be done in August.

Hayden Hackney is the only new face to arrive at Everton so far this summer, with Tyrique George and Merlin Rohl seeing their loan stints on Merseyside turn into permanent ones.

As a result, Everton have spent over £50m already, meaning there's a chance David Moyes will have to sell a player or two before adding to his squad.

In trust, the Blues need to strengthen a lot of areas of their squad, including the wide area that Fatawu would have occupied should he have moved to Hill Dickinson instead of Portman Road.

It's anyone's guess as to what kind of signing will be made next due to that.