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Mundo Deportivo have some confidence that Thomas Vermaelen to Everton is an actual thing, rather than the product of someone’s imagination.

In their Wednesday newspaper, Mundo Deportivo say Vermaelen could end up at Goodison Park, and Everton have been taking steps to progress the potential transfer.

Vermaelen’s agent is said to have spent yesterday in talks with Everton, the outcome of which isn’t reported by the Catalan newspaper, but the Premier League club’s desire for assurances is.

Ronald Koeman and his Everton team want ‘medical guarantees’ on Vermaelen’s fitness before going ahead with a Barcelona deal. The Belgian defender has spent much of the past few years either injured or recovering from injury.

There’s simply no way of guaranteeing Vermaelen won’t get injured again, indeed he’s injured right now. Everton would have to take the risk, there’s no path to reduce that danger.

What would balance the bets for Everton is taking Vermaelen initially on loan.

That’s the route AS Roma took last season, and then didn’t make the move permanent after the Belgian missed a chunk of matches due to injury.