According to the Liverpool Echo, Everton have placed Yannick Bolasie on the transfer list, but it remains to be seen if we can offload him this summer. The 31-year-old has been on the periphery at Goodison Park since 2018 but no suitor has been willing to sign him permanently.
The Liverpool Echo say we’ve had tentative enquiries about Bolasie but are still waiting to receive a concrete proposal. He’s in the final year of his deal, so we could do with cashing in while he still has value, rather than risk losing him for nothing in 2021.
What went wrong for Bola?
A lack of form, fitness and playing time. A lot was expected of Bolasie upon his £26m move from Crystal Palace in 2016, but he’s only gone on to make 32 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals with four assists.
The 31-year-old had a hand in five goals from 15 games before rupturing his cruciate ligament in his debut season (December 2016). Bolasie didn’t return for an entire year (December 2017) and then struggled for the remainder of the campaign (17 appearances, one goal).
He fell down the pecking order and was loaned out to Aston Villa (August 25, 2018 – January 21, 2019), RSC Anderlecht (January 31, 2019 – June 30, 2019) and Sporting CP (September 2, 2019 – April 22, 2020) in a bid to put himself in the shop window, but nobody has bitten yet.
Why aren’t many clubs interested?
Probably because of his advancing age, inconsistent form and lofty wage demands. Everton were requesting £7m for Bolasie in 2019 but have since lowered their asking price to £3m in 2020 to facilitate a move and still nobody wants him.
He’s in the eve of his career, has only scored 12 goals with 17 assists in the last four years (3 goals and 4.25 assists a year on average) and earns £3.9m-a-year/£75k-a-week. Bolasie isn’t providing value for money, so clubs aren’t willing to pay up.
Summary
It’s sad that we never had a fully fit Bolasie at Everton, but there’s little room for sentiment in football. He must be sold this summer, otherwise we’ll lose out on £3m in transfer fees and £3.9m in wages.