According to the Daily Mail, Everton have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Joe Gelhardt as Leicester City have entered the race for his signature. The 18-year-old has a £5m asking price and Wigan Athletic need to sell him due to their financial woes, but Everton aren’t the only side interested.
Gelhardt finds himself linked with Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea after impressing at the DW Stadium, so it remains to be seen which club are eventually successful.
Gelhardt rose through the youth ranks to the Wigan first-team in 2019 and has gone on to make 18 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal. He’s only amassed 472 minutes of football but has clearly made enough of an impression for Premier League clubs to show an interest.
The 18-year-old bagged five goals in five games for Wigan U18s and has represented England at U16 (five games, two goals), U17 (13 games, six goals) and U18 (six games, three goals) level, so he was making a name for himself before the step up.
Leicester now joining the race for Gelhardt means Everton have another obstacle in signing the striker, however, so time will tell how this saga will end.