Everton linked Nikola Maksimovic has rejected a new contract at Napoli after the Serie A giants refused to meet his £35,000-a-week demands, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.
While Gabriel Magalhaes is seemingly closing in on a long-awaited move to the Premier League, you would get long odds now on Goodison Park being his destination.
The coveted Lille defender even underwent a medical on Merseyside back in April but, thanks to the global lock-down which threw Everton’s best-laid plans up in the air, a deal was never completed.
Flash forward to the present day and, after being linked with Jean Clair Todibo, Wesley Fofana, Mohamed Simakan and more, the Toffees are no closer to landing the commanding central defender they have wanted since Kurt Zouma’s loan spell came to an end a year ago.
But, in Maksimovic, Everton appear to be finally going in the right direction again.
CalcioNapoli24 reported last week that the £13 million-rated Serbia international could be on his way to England and reunite with a manager who turned him from the forgotten man of Naples to a key figure at the heart of one of Italy’s biggest and best supported clubs.
“The rebirth came with Ancelotti,” former Torino man Maksimovic told Radio Kiss Kiss, via Football Italia.
“On the first day we talked and we understood each other well. I understood what he wanted, and I worked really hard to get this opportunity.”
According to Gazzetta, Maksimovic has now rejected the chance to extend a contract which expires in 2021 – though this appears to have more to do with Napoli’s refusal to pay him £1.8 million-a-year pay rise than any desire to work with a lengedary Italian once again.
Either way, Everton should take plenty of heart out of the fact that a defender who owes his career to Ancelotti the appears to have one foot out of the door.
The Toffees, after all, would not struggle to meet Maksimovic’s £35,000-a-week demands.
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