Everton winger Ademola Lookman appears to be a man in high demand this summer, despite Marco Silva’s reluctance to offer the Charlton product regular minutes in the Premier League.
The 21-year-old has already been linked with a permanent move out of Goodison Park, with Southampton thought to value the England U21 international at £20million after holding preliminary discussions at St Mary’s.
The Saints’ south coast rivals AFC Bournemouth have also seen their name crop up when Lookman’s future was debated, while RB Leipzig have forever remained keen on the London-born star following his loan spell with them in 2018.
Now, however, interest appears to have expanded further across the globe, with TRT Spor reporting that Besiktas have started to make efforts to sign Lookman on a temporary deal in time for the 2019/20 season.
It’s suggested the Super Lig outfit have sent Umut Guner to meet with Lookman’s representatives, as new head coach Abdullah Avci expects to have the core of his squad in place for pre-season training.
It remains to be seen how productive the alleged meeting was for Besiktas’ interest and Lookman’s future, and we will have to wait and see if the Turkish outfit proceed with an official offer.
A loan move, though, could be somewhat troublesome for Everton, as a season away from the club would see the 21-year-old return to Merseyside with just a year remaining on his Blues contract.
If the temporary stint turns out to be counterproductive to his development as well, we would risk further seeing the winger’s market value decline, as we could have sold him for £25million plus add-ons last summer, but the board insisted on a £28m base price, and now face having to settle for a fee in the region of £20m, at best.