Fulham’s hopes of signing Abdoulaye Doucoure from Premier League rivals Everton are in doubt due to the midfielder’s £120,000-a-week wages, 90Min adds while suggesting that a return to Watford may be on the cards.
Alongside Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and the now-departed Salomon Rondon, Doucoure has been one of the biggest victims of an impressive summer overhaul at Goodison Park.
Falling behind Idrissa Gana Gueye and Amadou Onana in Frank Lampard’s pecking order, the £20 million former France U21 international has started just two Premier League games all season.
But a fresh start is unlikely to occur without Doucoure first accepting substantial pay cut.
Doucoure, Spotrac point out, earns £120,000-a-week at Everton. Fulham, having been surprised by the sheer size of his eye-watering pay packet, may therefore find themselves returning to the drawing board.
The Cottagers are unwilling to cover even 50 per cent of Doucoure’s wages. A compromise could still be reached of course, but there remains a sizeable difference of opinion between Fulham and Everton as things stand.
Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Watford are targeting Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure
90Min believe that Watford could make an approach of their own. Doucoure, who spent four largely excellent years at Vicarage Road prior to his £20 million sale during the Carlo Ancelotti era at Everton, could return to Hertfordshire on loan. A short-term deal that would become permanent should Watford secure an immediate return to the Premier League under Slaven Bilic.
Watford are currently fourth, having defeated an out-of-sorts Norwich City on Monday. They are, however, still 11 points adrift of the automatic promotion positions in the Championship.
Doucoure is also on Nottingham Forest’s radar. It remains to be seen if a big-spending Forest side are in a better position than Fulham to meet the 30-year-old’s hefty wage demands. A physical central midfielder is high on Steve Cooper’s January radar; Salernitana’s Lassana Coulibaly and AFC Bourenmouth’s Jefferson Lerma under consideration too.
“Jeff’s been fantastic for the club. He’s been a great signing, obviously,” says Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil; making no secret of his desire to see Lerma sign a new deal at the Vitality Stadium.
“(Lerma has) been here for a long time and helped the club to promotion. He’s been brilliant for us again this season. So of course we want him to sign. We want him to stay. But, as with all new contract negotiations, every situation is sort of individual.
“I don’t want to speak for the players themselves. From a club point of view, hopefully we manage to keep the ones that we really want to keep.”
Lerma is out of contract at the end of the current campaign. The Colombia international is still Bournemouth’s £25 million record signing.
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