Everton have been linked with Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucoure.
According to the Daily Mail, Watford are demanding a huge £45million fee for midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain.
The Frenchman, 25, has starred for the Hornets, and is unsurprisingly attracting major interest ahead of the upcoming January transfer window.
That report comes just weeks after The Mirror claimed that Everton are keen to sign Doucoure, with Marco Silva wanting a reunion with his former midfielder.
Everton may well be targeting a move, but with a huge fee and major competition, can they really secure his signature in 2019?
Starting with the fee, Everton have spent similar fees under Farhad Moshiri on Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison, and another major signing isn’t out of all realms of possibility.
Yet with Andre Gomes no doubt the priority in midfield, it seems unlikely that the Toffees would be able to splash out on both midfielders next summer; it may have to be one or the other.
PSG can offer Doucoure a return to France, a title challenge, Champions League football and the chance to play with stars like Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, and Everton may need European football to feasibly stand a chance – even with Silva on board.
As a partner for Gomes, Doucoure would be perfect for Everton – but the massive outlay and PSG’s interest may just mean that Everton find a 2019 deal for Doucoure more difficult than they did when raiding Watford for Richarlison last summer.
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