Exclusive: Everton set to advance Caio Emerson interest
Everton are set to hold talks for the signing of Brazilian youngster Caio Emerson next week, Sport Witness has learned. Ronald Koeman’s club have been previously linked with the talented youngster, but in January sources informed Sport Witness claims Everton had already won the race were premature.
Interest from Everton was stated as being genuine but there could be no serious advance until the player’s birthday.
Now that he has turned 18, the striker is free to sign for a European club given that his contract with Corinthians has ended.
The Brazilian club hit problems with the percentages involved in Caio Emerson’s contract. With several parties having a hold of the youngster’s registration, Corinthians have so far been unable to make a good enough financial effort to solve the situation in their favour. That means the player can leave without a transfer fee being received.
Corinthians are still hopeful they can convince the player to commit his future to them, but it will obviously be hard for them to compete with the European offers Caio is receiving. It’s difficult for Brazilian clubs to compete with the attraction of Europe’s millions, and with Everton being a well financed Premier League club the task would be made even harder.
As it stands, whoever wants to sign the youngster will only have to pay Corinthians around R$700k (£183k) due to training compensation and the solidarity mechanism.
Everton are believed to have big competition for the player, and he’s been recently linked to clubs such as Barcelona, Granada and Atletico Madrid. A work permit would be harder for Everton to achieve than it would for a Spanish club, but it’s not believed to have put the Toffees off taking their interest further at this stage.
As Caio Emerson has been sidelined for long enough due to his transfer situation, the intention is for him to have a new club in ten days. In the event Everton talks resulted in a transfer, the 18 year old would likely join up to train with the club’s youth set-up before being registered in the summer.
