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So far along the road was Sandro to Atletico Madrid, report Marca in their Tuesday edition, the player had even passed a medical. Atletico had a misplaced confidence their transfer ban would reduced, and when it wasn’t… the Sandro plans slipped away.

Marca say Everton are now edging closer to the signing. On Monday the same Spanish newspaper said Sandro had travelled to Liverpool to complete a switch to Everton, and whilst they now step back a little from that, it seems clear, for Marca at least, the momentum is with the Toffees.

Sandro had plumped for Atletico and had his medical at the Fremap clinic, with detail pushed home to underline that it actually happened, but it’s not just the CAS ruling which is causing second thoughts.

The Malaga striker isn’t keen on having an unsure future on loan at Malaga, should he sign for Atletico now and be parked elsewhere. On top of that, and probably more concerning, he doesn’t want to to turn up at Atletico in January only to be faced with competition from Antoine Griezmann, Kevin Gameiro, Fernando Torres, and possibly Diego Costa.

That’s Everton’s big advanatge, although a move to Atletico isn’t completely ruled out.

Atletico were banned from registering players for two windows after breaking FIFA’s rules on the recruitment of minors. The Spanish club illegally signed 182 youngsters from four continents, in perhaps the most flagrant flouting of the rule seen to date.

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