Everton have reportedly been instructed to ignore the potential of signing Donny van de Beek in the January window, as the midfielder has no intentions of leaving AFC Ajax.
Marcel Brands was told to stay away from the 21-year-old Dutch international by reports in the midfielder’s native country.
De Telegraaf, as picked up by Sport Witness, ran a piece in their Thursday paper suggesting that the Toffees were monitoring his situation in case they could see enough potential in van de Beek to replace Idrissa Gana Gueye.
The Dutch paper claimed the English media were first to run the story, but no evidence of this can be found.
Nevertheless, De Telegraaf state that the five-cap international has no intentions of leaving Ajax in the January window, but would assess his situation at the end of the season.
TransferMarkt value the 21-year-old at £18million, and that figure is only going to continue rising if the defensive midfielder continues his current vein of form – van de Beek was valued at £8.1million a year ago.
WhoScored statistics claim the 6-foot midfielder has contributed to nine goals this season – scoring four and assisting a further five – while reclaiming possession 46 times via 19 tackles, 16 interceptions and 11 passes blocked in 18 Eredivisie fixtures.