Having seen the news from Spurs’ director of football Fabio Paratici regarding ‘hijacking’ Everton’s loan move for Aranut Danjuma, further reports have suggested that former Everton winger Gerard Deulofeu was another reason Spurs turned their attention to Danjuma.
🥇| Gerard Deulofeu to #Tottenham was almost done in January, but he picked up a serious injury which forced #Spurs to look elsewhere. @FabrizioRomano pic.twitter.com/vj9t8g3nrr
— The Spurs Express (@TheSpursExpress) February 2, 2023
Now I always joke. “Everton aren’t we”, but when I read that Deulofeu was the reason for Danjuma’s failed move to Everton, it epitomised the saying.
After agreeing on personal terms with Everton and completing his medical, Danjuma was at Finch Farm completing his media duties all whilst his agent was on the phone with Tottenham Hotspur about moving to London instead of Liverpool. The next day, Danjuma was expected at Finch Farm for training, and when he did not show.
Everton chased up his whereabouts and it was at this stage that they realise that the FA never got the agent’s copy of his registration form before finding out that not only was Danjuma on his way to London but already in London holding talks with Spurs over a loan move.
But all of this could have been avoided if former Everton winger Gerard Deulofeu had not picked up an injury last week. Fabrizio Romano explained the situation on his YouTube
“This is a very surprising one.
“But I can reveal [to] you that this is an exclusive name; Tottenham were considering a move for Gerard Deulofeu.”
“But what happened? Deulofeu was really close to Tottenham. From what I heard, the deal was almost done for Deulofeu to join Tottenham. But what happened is that Gerard Deulofeu had an injury, a serious injury, and so he was not available any more on the market right before joining Tottenham.”
Whilst at Udinese, Deulofeu has 18 goals and 14 assists in 68 appearances with 13 of those goals coming in the 2021/22 campaign, and so far this season has 8 goal contributions in 16 games. [TransferMarkt]
With no signings coming through the gates at Finch Farm on Tuesday it meant that Everton became the only Premier League side not to sign anyone in January, and with the sale of youth academy product Anthony Gordon the day prior, it was expected that Everton had money to spend but that has since been explained.