Everton’s hopes of bringing Gylfi Sigurdsson to Goodison Park suffered a major blow with Swansea City asking the Toffees to up their bid to £60 million.
Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson will be unsure where he will be playing next season
Swansea City midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson has had a huge £60 million price-tag been slapped on him in an attempt to keep him at the Welsh club, reports the Sun. Everton initially made a bid of £30 million, the paper reports, which was rejected by the Swans and the asking price has escalated astonishingly to double the valuation that Everton were hoping to sign the Icelander for.
The Welsh club are playing hard ball in their attempts to retain the star midfield player, and club chairman Huw Jenkins was quoted as saying the player would not be given up lightly. “It’s hard to suggest what sort of value Gylfi has in today’s market, but to us he is priceless and we are going to make sure we do everything in our power to make sure he stays,” Jenkins said.
Sigurdsson has been a massive player for Swansea – helping them stave off relegation with his 13 assists and nine goals in 36 appearances for the Welsh Premier League club last season. The goals include two goals from direct free kicks at which Sigurdsson is viewed by many as a bit of a specialist.
Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson in action
Everton may now have to see what kind of price they could get for Ross Barkley if they are going to come back with an improved offer for Sigurdsson. Arsenal and Manchester United are among the favourites to buy Barkley, according to the Metro.
Last month the Sun and other national papers had stated that Everton had reached a deal on Sigurdsson for a transfer fee of £25 million, but that figure appears to now be way off the pace. The hands off call will send shockwaves through Everton who have already spent big on attracting Jordan Pickford, Davy Klassen and Sandro Ramirez to Merseyside this transfer window. Whether Everton Ronald Koeman has the appetite to continue to pursue Gylfi Sigurdsson is unclear, but it will be frustrating to the Toffees if they don’t get their man after having tracked the Icelandic international player so publicly for the last few months.
Iceland’s Gylfi Sigurdsson attends a news conference
Koeman is well backed by Everton’s owner Fahrad Moshiri to try and make the Toffees a top six side and while they narrowly missed out on that last season, the funds have been flowing generously out of Goodison this summer to try and make that a reality. Any deal for Sigurdsson, however, could now be off.
SkyBet still have Everton as favourites to sign the player at 4/7, but their interest may have cooled substantially after the words from the Swansea chairman. Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur are priced further out at 12/1 and 16/1, respectively in the betting.
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