CEO confirms Everton offer for his £34m star with ‘negotiations’ underway

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Almeria have confirmed that Premier League outfit Everton are one of three clubs to make a ‘formal offer’ for £34 million striker El Bilal Toure. 

Sacha Tavolieri raised more eyebrows than Carlo Ancelotti on a Cadbury’s advert on Monday when he broke the news on Twitter that Everton were willing to trigger the 40 million euro release clause in El Bilal Toure’s UD Almeria contract. 

And not just because the sight of a £34 million centre-forward arriving at Goodison Park would represent a dramatic change of direction from a club who couldn’t even afford to stump up the £12 million Aston Villa wanted for Danny Ings a few months ago. 

The sales of Anthony Gordon and Moise Kean – for a combined £70 million – gives Sean Dyche far more funds to play with in comparison to predecessor Frank Lampard.

Almeria CEO Mohamed El Assy, meanwhile, indicates that a proposed takeover from American investment firm 777 Partners is also playing a key role in Everton’s pursuit of 21-year-old Toure. 

Everton make El Bilal Toure offer

“It is not only Everton. There, a new owner has bought a part of the club, but it’s not just them. Officially, there are three clubs interested in El Bilal with formal offers on the table,” El Assy tells Diario de Almeria.  

“Two of them are Italian, and one is English. And now we are in the middle of negotiations.

“We are not going to broadcast (the details of the negotiations) in the media. It all depends on the value they present to us.

“We are happy with El Bilal because he is a hard worker and a great striker.” 

Tavolieri adds that Everton are willing to offer Toure a five-year deal worth around £70,000-a-week. There is also interest from Nottingham Forest and Wolves. Fulham, meanwhile, reportedly see Toure as a potential replacement for Aleksandr Mitrovic should the Serbian targetman be lured away from Craven Cottage. 

Toure scored seven La Liga goals last term as Almeria dodged relegation. One was an equaliser against Atletico Madrid. Another was a famous winner at home to champions Barcelona.