Everton‘s fall from grace continues to be one of the most captivating under-the-bubble stories in the Premier League, and those hoping the Toffees can stay up will be pleased to see they are up to 16th in the table.
That said, Everton are still only four points above the drop, and while they do have a number of intriguing young talents like center back Jarrad Branthwaite, they have a long way to go before they can be a threat to compete for the European places.
Everton will need to keep rebuilding their squad, and that means having to sell some of their talents capable of funding moves. The main transfer target for other clubs is young box-to-box midfielder Amadou Onana.
Barcelona are the most prominent club linked to Onana, and Diario Sport report that they are willing to offer one of four players to the Toffees in order to bump the transfer fee down.
Ansu Fati (currently on loan at Brighton), Sergiño Dest, Clement Lenglet (on loan at Aston Villa), and Fermin Lopez are the four players La Blaugrana are said to be willing to part ways with.
Dest and Lenglet would be immediate no-gos for Everton as players who aren’t even good enough to start for the Toffees every week. Neither have much resale transfer value either, especially not the 28-year-old Lenglet.
Fati could make some sense, but he is likely staying with the Seagulls and has his own injury and consistency issues that would make Everton shy away.
Fermin is the real talent here. Barcelona have a loaded midfield and haven’t found space for the 20-year-old, who looked like a real top talent at the beginning of the 2023/24 LaLiga season when he was getting minutes for the Catalan giants.
Barça cutting ties with Fermin could be Everton’s gain. Everton could snag a highly-talented, technical young midfielder, obtain some extra cash for Onana, and use that money to sign another midfield talent with upside.
Fermin makes sense for Everton as a transfer target to inject that extra bit of quality, since, well, it seems like the club is going to have to sell Onana anyway. They might as well get a worthwhile talent in return.
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