Sporting Lisbon’s prized asset could finally be set to move to England in the summer – West Brom and Everton have tried their luck before.
It’s testament to the excellent work done by Ronald Koeman and Tony Pulis this season that Everton are as many points behind Manchester City (7) as West Brom are behind The Toffees. As it stands, Everton are sitting pretty in seventh while The Baggies are enjoying their greatest ever Premier League campaign in eighth.
However, that does not mean either side will be content to sit back and toast a job well done. Armed by financial muscle provided by new owners, it sums up the ambition of both Everton and West Brom that they will both be watching developments over in Portugal with interest.
O Jogo report that Sporting Lisbon will allow William Carvalho, the anchorman of Portugal’s Euro 2016 winning side, to finally depart in the summer for a relatively low fee of £21 million.
And while the imposing midfield metronome had long been linked with the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, a side just below them in the Premier League table now appears a more likely destination.
The Sun claim that West Brom tabled club record bids for Carvalho both in January and last summer, with The Baggies’ new Chinese owners providing the backing to ensure that a top half finish is not merely a one-off.
The 24-year-old, the latest in an array of gifted Portuguese internationals to rise through Sporting’s esteemed academy, was also the subject of a summer bid from Everton, according to the Daily Mirror.
However, having paid a similar sum for Morgan Schneiderlin in January, it seems doubtful that Everton will be prioritising another defensive midfielder in the summer – especially with Koeman needing to reinforce his backline and potentially his strikeforce too if Romelu Lukaku gets his way.
Therefore, West Brom could have a major advantage and an excellent opportunity to pull off one of the greatest coups in their history.
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