Dynamo Kiev manager Mircea Lucescu appears to have confirmed that an agreement is in place for Vitaliy Mykolenko to join Premier League outfit Everton in the January transfer window, speaking to Telekom Sport.
It was true after all then.
We certainly had our doubts when Pro Sport claimed earlier this week that Everton had agreed a deal to bring a Ukrainian international to Goodison Park.
This was no slight on Mykolenko. The 22-year-old impressed at Euro 2020 and in this season’s Champions League group-stages after all. There’s no doubting his talent.
And Everton may need a new left-back given the whole Lucas Digne situation you may have read about.
Our doubts, however, arose due to a reported £20 million transfer fee.
Farhad Moshiri has Everton on a strict diet these days after years of over-indulgence. And, after spending just £1.7 million on new signings last summer, it seemed unlikely that the Toffees would splash out £20 million on a single player in January.
Lucescu opted not to confirm how much Everton are set to pay. But he did admit that a Dynamo Kiev player – and it can only really be Mykolenko – is heading to Merseyside.
Have Everton completed their first January signing?
“One of them (our players) went to Everton, in England,” says the veteran coach.
“After (West Ham’s Andriy) Yarmolenko, this is the first big transfer that Dinamo Kiev has made. He is a young player, an example for the others who are coming (through the ranks).
“It is very important to give young players the opportunity.”
Mykolenko’s seemingly impending switch has raised plenty of eyebrows back home in Ukraine.
Former national team coach Yozhef Sabo is concerned that this is a classic case of ‘too much, too soon’ for one of the country’s brightest young talents.
Interestingly, a renowned Ukrainian football agent claims to have been approached by scouts working on behalf of both Everton and Newcastle United, asking about Mykolenko.
Negotiations over a move to the Premier League, he added, were advanced.
It appears that it’s Rafa Benitez’s Everton, rather than Eddie Howe’s Newcastle, who have won the race.
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