With Paris Saint-Germain’s rather well known and public chase for Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye during the last January transfer window, with talk of a transfer request also going in, ultimately we stuck to our guns and the 29-year-old remained at Goodison Park for the remainder of the campaign and showed few signs of being overly upset once he got back on the pitch for us.
With his deal with the French giants going through on Tuesday as per the BBC for a reported £30million, it’s certainly a good profit from our point of view given the £7million we paid Aston Villa for him in 2016 and few fans will begrudge him the move now, given both the fee received and also his efforts in the shirt.
With Gueye himself sending a very good leaving message to the fans, I think former player Leon Osman has called it right in suggesting that the player and Everton committed to a ‘gentleman’s handshake’ last January over a future deal taking place.
It would certainly explain the few days to get his head right after the move didn’t go through, and the return to form with no toys being thrown out of the pram, as everyone knew he wanted the move to go through.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live late on Monday evening (9.15pm), he explained.
“I think the fact that they went out and bought Fabian Delph early doors, they got a bit of good business done there. I think the writing was always on the wall. I think Idrissa Gueye was linked with PSG in January. There was a real concern we would lose him then without any real cover. I think maybe a gentleman’s handshake was done, I am not exactly sure. But it’s as if it was known and the reinforcements were brought in before he was allowed to speak to another club.”
Certainly makes sense to me, although I’m not 100% convinced that Delph is his specific replacement myself.
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