Yannick Bolasie will need to take a sizeable pay cut if he wants to stay at Middlesbrough, with the Northern Echo reporting that Neil Warnock is keen to strike a permanent deal for the Everton winger.
A lot has changed at Goodison Park since Bolasie joined Everton in a club-record £28 million deal five years ago.
Ronald Koeman was the head coach back then, Steve Walsh the chief scout, while Kevin Mirallas, Romelu Lukaku and Gareth Barry were still plying their trade in royal blue.
Furthermore, only two of the seven players who joined Everton in the summer of 2016 are still contracted to the Merseyside giants. One of those, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, is now the team’s talismanic centre-forward.
The other, however, looks destined to depart on July 1 when he becomes a free agent.
Bolasie has not made a single Premier League appearance since the 2018/19 season. And it seems more likely that Steven Gerrard will profess his love for all things Everton than Bolasie will stay on Merseyside.
It remains to be seen, however, if Bolasie is willing to accept a vastly reduced contract at Middlesbrough, once his £75,000-a-week Everton deal comes to an end (Spotrac).
The 31-year-old has been a big hit on loan at the Riverside, scoring or assisting seven goals in his last nine games with manager Neil Warnock admitting that he would be open to a permanent deal.
“It’ll depend on what offers Yannick gets, I suppose. I’ve spoken to him about the situation,” Warnock told Teesside Live on Friday.
“I don’t think he’ll get a Premier League club if I’m honest, so it’ll probably come down to whether he wants to play in the Championship or whether he’d rather go abroad because I think that’s where the money is.
“He’s got enough money anyway, hasn’t he?”
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