In case you’d been asleep since December, we’ll catch you up on one of the hottest stories of the past few months in Italy: Everton want Allan.
It stems from the respect Carlo Ancelotti has for the Brazilian midfielder, whom he worked with at Napoli, which led to the Italian manager trying his hand at securing a transfer in January, to no avail.
There was since hope Everton could return this summer, with their chances looked at more favourably since the Serie A side would have extra time to replace him, but if Il Mattino on Tuesday are to be believed, a move seems unlikely.
That’s because the Italian newspaper explain Aurelio De Laurentiis, the club’s owner, has made it clear his players’ valuations will not drop because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the club will ask full price for the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly and Allan in the next few months.
That leaves the Senegalese with a price tag of €110m on his back, while the defensive midfielder would cost €75m (an increase of €15m from what Corriere dello Sport were reporting in mid-April).
This means the club are now planning for ‘plan B’, which is the pair staying for the 2020-21 season, and Napoli simply ‘wait for the financial return of football’s transfer market’.
A strong message to send, and we’ll have to see if they stick by it when actually presented with offers, but if they do, we simply can’t see Everton going that high for a player nearing his 30s.
