Everton agreed a £23 million fee with Almeria for El Bilal Toure but now think the La Liga frontman will opt for a move to Serie A rather than the Premier League.
The good news, at least, is that Everton do appear to have the funds required to bring in a new number nine to Goodison Park.
The bad news, though, is that El Bilal Toure will not be the solution of Sean Dyche’s goalscoring problems. Swings and roundabouts, as they say.
Everton will miss out on El Bilal Toure to Atalanta
Boosted by the big-money sales of Anthony Gordon and Moise Kean – and the departures of many a high-earning Merseyside misfit – Everton had a £23 million bid accepted by UD Almeria over the weekend, according to i News.
Any optimism, however, was short-lived. Everton reportedly ‘expect’ Toure to join Atalanta instead, and are wasting no time turning their attention to a number of alternative centre-forward options.
Fabrizio Romano uttered those three magic words on Tuesday; Toure to Atalanta, ‘here we go’. La Dea will stump up a club-record fee rising to £26 million, with the one-time Reims starlet expected to replace the potentially Manchester United-bound Rasmus Hojlund in Bergamo.
Toffees need goals
Almeria’s CEO, Mohammed El Assy, confirmed Everton’s interest earlier this month, alongside a number of other suitors.
“It is not only Everton. Officially, there are three clubs interested in El Bilal with formal offers on the table,” El Assy told Diario de Almeria. “Two of them are Italian, and one is English. And now we are in the middle of negotiations.”
Toure scored seven La Liga goals as Almeria dodged the drop last term. One was a winner against champions Barcelona, and another salvaged a point against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.
With Toure heading to Italy, Everton may now step up their pursuit of Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto. Although the pocket-rocket forward is arguably more effective in a wider role.
You can say the same of new recruit Arnaut Danjuma. Although it must be said that he did score 17 goals while operating occasionally as a number nine at Villarreal in 2021/22.
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