Mateo Kovacic could leave Real Madrid with Everton and West Ham linked but the more likely move could see Axel Witsel arrive. If the Zenit St Petersburg midfielder chooses us over Napoli?
The Daily Mail has reported Ronald Koeman’s interest in bringing Croatian international Kovacic to Goodison Park with the 22-year-old midfielder looking as though his time in Madrid could come to an end a year after they signed him from Inter Milan for a fee of around ?30m.
Billionaire Farhad Moshiri taking over at Everton does give us funds needed to compete.
Therefore we could well compete for his (Kovacic’s) signature but you sense if he does come to the Premier League the chance to work with his former Croatian boss, and our former defender, Slaven Bilic could tempt him the way of West Ham?
You wouldn’t anticipate both Kovacic and Witsel signing but you never know! The latter is being very heavily mentioned in connection with Everton though.
Belgium international Witsel, who played in his countries defeat to Wales in the Euro 2016 quarter-final, saw his father Thierry Witsel telling Italian radio station CRC Napoli have been ‘met’ for talks with the Toffees registering a ‘concrete’ interest.
‘It’s true I met with (Napoli sporting director) Cristiano Giuntoli in Brussels. It was a positive discussion and there could be interest by both parties, so we’ll see how things evolve. Everton’s interest is concrete, like Napoli’s, so the negotiation is ongoing, and to see if the marriage happens we have to see the conditions and understand what is the best destination for the player.’
He’s leaning towards Napoli though perhaps, adding.
‘Napoli is a great club. They had Maradona amongst their protagonists so they don’t need to be praised. (Dries) Mertens spoke very highly of Napoli with Axel. He knows that going to Napoli would mean joining a big club and making a step forward in his career.’
Depending on what reports you do read a fee of £30m has actually been agreed with his Russian club Zenit with that set to bring the 27-year-old to the club?
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