As Sport Witness covered on Wednesday, thanks to claims from Belgium’s HLN, Everton have agreed to let Henry Onyekuru stay at Anderlecht for another season.
But, whilst there’s agreement between the two clubs, the player is stalling.
William D’Avila, described as one of Onyekuru’s agents, was quoted confirming the agreement and explaining the delay in signing: “That’s correct. If Henry could play in the Champions League with Anderlecht, that would make the conversations easier.”
Onyekuru’s desire to actually play for parent club Everton is no secret and if he gets a sniff of that being a reasonable chance then he’ll drop Anderlecht like a hot stone.
The Belgium club will know this, and Het Nieuwsblad report on Friday that Les Mauves are backing ‘multiple horses’ and are looking at Standard Liege’s Edmilson Junior. An interesting character, the footballer’s father is Brazilian and moved to Belgium, where he played for Standard himself.
It’s been rumoured Edmilson Junior has a €3m release clause but some believe that’s now invalid. Anderlecht are investigating the situation and possibility of signing the Standard player.
With Onyekuru being a forward who has been playing on the wing, capable on both but mainly the left side, and Edmilson being exactly the same, it’s unlikely Anderlecht would go for both.
Het Nieuwsblad also back up the agreement between Everton and Anderlecht but it seems clear the Belgium club aren’t prepared to wait around too long for Onyekuru to decide what he wants.
