According to Corriere dello Sport (h/t Sport Witness), Everton’s pursuit of Matias Vecino is now more difficult as Inter Milan have raised his asking price. In January, the Toffees reportedly had an agreement in place with Vecino but Inter rejected their €12m (£10.76m) bid. Now they’ve been told that his valuation has tripled.
Corriere dello Sport say Vecino has a €35m (£31.38m) asking price while Gazzetta dello Sport via The Turin Crowd say he earns €2.5m-a-year/€48k-per-week (£2.24m-a-year/£43k-per-week) at the San Siro. It’s hard to see Everton paying three times the price they offered for Vecino back in January, however.
The Toffees are on the hunt for another addition to the engine room, having been linked with Napoli midfielder Allan and Aston Villa’s John McGinn, but Vecino doesn’t provide value for money. The 28-year-old joined Inter for £21.6m from Fiorentina in 2017 and has gone on to make 94 appearances in all competitions, but his numbers this season have left a lot to be desired.
As per WhoScored, Vecino has made 18 Serie A appearances, scored two goals, made two assists, completed 79.1% of his 513 attempted passes, created 15 chances, won 15 aerial duels (38%), made five successful dribbles (71%), had 26 shots with 34.6% accuracy, blocked 21 shots/passes/crosses, made 25 clearances and averaged a tackle (31) or interception (15) every 27 minutes.
The Uruguayan international has, however, given away 19 fouls, lost possession through an unsupposed touch or being tackled 22 times and has been dribbled past on 26 occasions. The fact Inter are still willing to sell him says a lot about his performances this season too.
Everton would be better off avoiding Vecino now Inter have hiked up his price to an unrealistic figure.