A potential exciting signing for Everton as Ronald Koeman looks to revamp the Everton squad since taking over from Roberto Martinez, Axel Witsel’s transfer from Zenit St Petersburg looks unlikely to happen.
The Italian press, who are still counting on Paul Pogba leaving Juventus, make it clear the Serie A champions are very interested in the Belgian midfielder, who is, in turn, also very keen on a move to Italy, according to Corriere dello Sport.
While Everton have managed to agree a fee with the Russian team over the transfer (reported to be around €30m), Juventus have not, but are hoping the player can convince Zenit to accept a smaller fee due to his willingness to leave.
The Belgium international has also allegedly rejected the Merseyside club’s personal terms, waiting to see what happens with his Juventus transfer instead.
This all hints to personal terms with Juventus being a formality for the player, meaning he’d probably be happy to accept a pay cut to play for them if it came down to that.
Juventus’ ease at winning trophies and participation in the Champions League seems to be the reason for turning down Everton.
While this isn’t exactly ideal for the Premier League club, a player not immediately going for the big money remains somewhat refreshing. But then again, Witsel has seen so many transfesr fail at the last minute that there may be more to it than that.