Premier League duo Everton and Leicester City have been linked with the Benfica winger Rafa Silva.
Everton and Leicester City were both linked with a move for Benfica’s Portuguese international winger Rafa Silva in the lead up to the January transfer window.
And, speaking to A Renascenca, the former Braga star’s agent Antonio Araujo has insisted that there is still interest from the Premier League, and it would be no surprise at all if Everton are still at the front of the queue.
After all, Rafa possesses many of the attributes that Everton have lacked this season. Despite underwhelming somewhat since his £14 million move to Benfica in 2016, the 24-year-old possesses pace, creativity and dribbling ability in wide areas; a position where the Toffees struggled under Ronald Koeman and still look light under Sam Allardyce despite the return of Yannick Bolasie from injury.
There is a reason Rafa was once referred to as Portugal’s answer to Eden Hazard.
Then again, Everton should be wary of overpaying once more in the transfer market.
The arrival of Farhad Moshiri as majority shareholder in 2016 gave Everton access to finances previously beyond their wildest dreams, but they have squandered big fees so far on the likes of Cenk Tosun, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michael Keane and even Gylfi Sigurdsson (below) who, while sporadically impressive, is worth nowhere near £45 million, as reported by the Guardian.
The phrase ‘daylight robbery’ comes to mind.
According to A Bola, Benfica would demand £26.5 million for Rafa. It is quite rich to demand a £12 million profit on a player who has been trusted to start just four league games all season.
As reported by the Mail, Moshiri has been asking serious questions with much of his hard earned money spent on underwhelming players. Everton really cannot afford to do the same again.
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