Alisher Usmanov could help CSKA Moscow to sign Everton striker Cenk Tosun, having previously aided the Russian side’s capture of Nikola Vlasic in 2017.
Tosun has been heavily linked with a move away from Everton this month, with clubs in England and Turkey thought to be keen on him.
CSKA Moscow were added to that list earlier this week, with a report in Russia indicating that they were considering making a bid before the end of the transfer window.
Everton, it was claimed, would not be reluctant to selling the Turkish striker, who has failed to impress since arriving from Besiktas in 2018.
They report that the news of interest in Tosun is ‘rather unexpected’ as CSKA usually prefer younger players and moving to Russia would be a backward step both competitively and financially for the striker.
Despite that, though, CSKA do have a history of signing Everton players after getting Nikola Vlašić from the Toffees back in 2019.
At £14.13m he was the club’s most expensive signing ever and was not the easiest deal for them to get done because the midfielder was ‘valued more expensively’ by the Toffees.
However, Usmanov, who Championat describe as the ‘co-owner of Everton’ – which, as far as we’re aware, isn’t true – helped the Russian side to complete the transfer.
This was confirmed by CSKA President Yevgeny Giner, who confirmed Usmanov had helped to convince Everton’s actual majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who is a close friend, to give them ‘special conditions’.
It’s felt that could happen again with Tosun and Usmanov could step in to ensure Everton give CSKA a better deal to get the move over the line.
That would depend on Tosun accepting the switch, but there’s positives there too, with the player linked with Zenit St Petersburg last year and said to be ‘not against’ the move to Russia after studying the living conditions in the country.
It now remains to be seen if CSKA make their move, with it believed they ‘should make a transfer offer’ in the near future. And if they do, they may call on an influential billionaire to help get things over the line.
