Everton are in talks with AS Roma regarding a potential swap deal involving Italy internationals Alessandro Florenzi and Moise Kean, according to Corriere dello Sport via Sport Witness.
Roma have a long-standing interest in Kean having attempted to swoop Goodison Park in January, looking to acquire the 20-year-old amid his struggles in making the switch to the Premier League six months on from his £27.5million move from Juventus.
The Giallorossi’s attempts fell on deaf ears at the time but have remained attentive to Kean’s situation, and could now be offered the chance to land the striker on loan with Everton chiefs believing there is a potential deal on the table amid our search for a new right-back.
Atletico Madrid’s Santiago Arias is one candidate under consideration with Director of Football Marcel Brands mulling over a clutch of specific targets, while Roma’s Florenzi is another.
We would be looking to take Florenzi on loan in the event an agreement can be reached with Roma, who sent the 35-cap defender to Valencia for the second half of the 2019/20 campaign despite the Italian captaining the Stadio Olimpico natives on multiple occasions.
Florenzi made 32 outings across all competitions last term, with 18 for Roma – including in the Europa League Group Stage – and 14 for Valencia – including in their Champions League Round of 16 clash with Atalanta – amid a disrupted season that featured spells on the sidelines with the flu and chickenpox.
Kean is believed to be a potential makeweight in talks with Roma for Florenzi due to the £53,173-per-week forward’s desires to redeem himself, having scored just two goals over 33 appearances – of which just eight were starts – since moving to Goodison Park a year ago.
It remains to be seen if boss Carlo Ancelotti is open to the idea of offloading Kean to free Everton to sign Florenzi, though it certainly appears Director of Football Marcel Brands is in talks with Roma over the potential arrangement.
Would you send Kean out on loan for the 2020/21 season?
Yes
No
Everton certainly are in need of another first-team ready right-back ahead of the new Premier League campaign, having allowed Djibril Sidibe to return to AS Monaco after our option to buy was allowed to lapse amid the changing financial landscape.
It means Ancelotti will only have Seamus Coleman and Mason Holgate in the first-team squad who can play at full-back, though it would be hard to image the boss considering Holgate for the role after his exploits at centre-half.
Coleman cannot be a guarantee either these days and not signing a rival to the Republic of Ireland international would be a mistake, given his appearances were inconsistent last term.