Two months ago, we covered claims from France which stated Everton were showing interest in Amir Richardson in the summer window.
Last month, L’Equipe backed up Everton’s interest in the 22-year-old and added that the Toffees had positioned themselves to sign him.
The Premier League side weren’t able to get a deal over the line. The midfielder left Stade de Reims and completed a move to Fiorentina on August 12th.
Space Viola interviewed the Morocco international’s representatives, Emmanuel Lacroix and Sebastien Szwarc. They talked about Everton’s interest and their comments are relayed by TuttoMercatoWeb.
The Merseyside club, Ajax and Fenerbahçe all showed keen interest in the player. His agents have also stated Richardson held talks with Sean Dyche and the managers of the other clubs.
They mentioned Everton’s interest when asked how their client’s move to the Serie A side took shape.
“Everton, Ajax and Fenerbahçe were monitoring his situation with great interest, which is completely understandable given his young age and considerable potential,” Lacroix and Szwarc said.
“Amir had talks with all the coaches of the interested clubs, but the first to contact him was Raffaele Palladino [Fiorentina manager], with whom he had a video call. From the very beginning, the strong interest on his part clearly emerged.
“After that conversation, Amir confided to us that he felt at ease and that in addition to his use on the pitch, we also discussed other aspects. Interest from other clubs showed later, but Amir was keen to keep his word to Palladino.
“We had contact with Roberto Goretti [Fiorentina technical director] after Diego Tavano, the intermediary of the operation and our partner, informed us of Fiorentina’s strong interest.”
The representatives’ comments indicate Everton were late in their efforts to sign the player.
Richardson represented Morocco at the Olympics, where he made six appearances, and he featured twice for Fiorentina this season.
