If you followed most of your Everton transfer news through Sport Witness over the summer, you’ll be aware the club were heavily linked with a move for Anderlecht’s Leander Dendoncker.
Available for a quoted price of €20-38m depending on when in August the story was published, the young defensive midfielder found himself in the midst of a transfer saga he couldn’t mentally block out, which affected his start to the season.
Criticised for his performances, Dendoncker himself admitted the transfer rumours sending him to Goodison Park and Manchester United got to him, and has done so again in an interview to Sport/Foot.
He said: “I felt ready for a new challenge. On one hand, I hoped it would happen, but on the other, knowing they’d sold Youri, I doubted the club would let two of their three midfielder leave. It was all going on in my head: I was ready, but I knew it would be difficult.”
Revealing the last thing he wanted out of all this was money, despite what some members of Anderlecht, including its president, said.
He continued: “All that interested me and my family was my future as a player. I tried to stay out of it as much as possible, but it was difficult because it was my future. At one point, I let myself get overwhelmed and it showed in my game.”
As for where he sees himself going next, the defensive midfielder has a ‘clear career plan’, and just wants to make sure he finds the right club for him.
Whether that is Everton or not remains to be seen, but if his description of his ideal club is anything to go by, perhaps the Toffees’ current situation (in the relegation zone) might not be the most attractive.
He said: “I’m studying all possibilities, but I’d rather play in England, Germany or Spain. I also have to choose the right club. Is going to a team in the bottom half of the Premier League interesting? I don’t know.
“Of course, playing there against the big clubs every two to three weeks is a step forward, but on the other hand, Anderlecht play in the Champions League. It’s up to me to make the right choice and to not rush anything like trusting an agent who could use me to get a foothold in a club where he doesn’t have one. I want to also go where a manager wants me. It’s very important.”
Of course, Everton aren’t normally a bottom half team, but if Dendoncker is going to move next summer and the Toffees cannot offer him European football, they might struggle to get their man.
Furthermore, if Ronald Koeman was the one who wanted the Belgian midfielder, then perhaps the road to Goodison Park is now officially closed.
We’ll have to wait and see, but with the likes of Manchester United (Carrick replacement?) and Atlético Madrid also said to have been circling, things aren’t looking good for Everton.
