According to the Daily Mail’s Dominic King, Everton are ‘pursuing’ Santiago Arias and are in talks with Atletico Madrid over a fee. The 28-year-old has been short of playing time at the Wanda Metropolitano and could be on his way out this summer.
How good is Arias?
Pretty good and would bring a wealth of experience. The 28-year-old has made 51 appearances in all competitions since joining Atleti from PSV Eindhoven in 2018, scoring one goal with three assists. Arias fell down the pecking order to Kieran Trippier last season, however, so his future in Madrid is up in the air.
The Colombian international made 18 appearances in 2019/20, amassing 1394 minutes of playing time. As per WhoScored, Arias started only 11 games in La Liga games, making one assist.
He’s created 11 chances, whipped in 24 crosses, won 25/47 aerial duels, had 5/7 successful dribbles, blocked 17 shots/passes/crosses, made 15 clearances, gave away only one foul every 134 minutes, won 16 free-kicks, averaged a tackle (36) or interception (19) every 19 minutes and was dribbled past only once every 134 minutes.
How much will he cost?
Atleti paid £9.9m to sign Arias from PSV, but his market value at Transfermarkt rose to £10.8m while CIES Football Observatory value him at €10m-€15m (£9m-£13.5m).
Goal said in June that the 28-year-old’s asking price is €15m, so he won’t break the bank. Silly Season say Arias earns €41k-per-week/€2.1m-a-year (£37k-per-week/£1.9m-a-year) with Atleti.
What about Seamus Coleman and Jonjoe Kenny?
Cuco Martina was finally released and Djibril Sidibe returned to parent club AS Monaco this summer, so Carlo Ancelotti was left with Coleman and Kenny at right-back next season.
It seems he’s not entirely happy with his options, however, as Coleman turns 32 in October and has struggled for consistency while Kenny has been on loan at Schalke 04 and hasn’t turned out for us since March 2019.
Summary
We’ve been linked with Colin Dagba, Emerson, Jesus Corona, Ola Aina and Bouna Sarr in the last year, but the Arias rumours seem to have the most legs right now. Time will tell if we get a deal over the line.