Everton target Rui Silva will join Real Betis when his contract at La Liga rivals Granada expires in July, as reported by ABC Sevilla.
Yet such a statement will do little to ruin the feel-good factor on the blue half of Merseyside right now.
If Jordan Pickford’s stunning performance in Saturday’s Anfield triumph is anything to go by, Everton may not need a new goalkeeper after all.
In Pickford’s recent absence, second-choice Robin Olsen has shone too. The reliable Sweden international has surely done enough to convince Everton that turning his loan spell from Roma into a permanent transfer is a good idea.
Olsen’s hopes of a long-term stay at Goodison Park have been handed a timely boost, too, with Rui Silva allegedly striking a pre-contract agreement with Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis side.
ABC Sevilla claims that the 26-year-old Portuguese will move to Andalusia from Granada on a free next summer.
“It has been very difficult. The truth is that every week there was news about me,” Silva told Eleven Sports, admitting that relentless transfer speculation was difficult to deal with.
“I always try to stay focused and, when I go out on the field, I will do my best. I am representing an excellent club (Granada), which gave me everything and that is what I have to respect until the last day of the contract. That’s what I’ll do.”
Silva was linked with Everton by Estadio Deportivo recently, while both Barcelona and Inter Milan were also credited with interest.
The former Nacional stopper has blossomed into one of La Liga’s most reliable goalkeepers at a Granada side who have risen from the second-tier to the Europa League knock-out stages in the space of just two years, beating Napoli 2-0 in the round-of-32 clash on Thursday.
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