Everton are interested in a move for Valencia goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen this summer, provided they can sell Jordan Pickford first.
That’s according to El Mercantil Valenciano’s Levante edition and Super Deporte, who both report that the Blues are one of several suitors for the Dutch goalkeeper.
The newspaper explains that Valencia are keen to move Cillessen on this summer as their overhaul of the squad continues.
The Spanish side are in a desperate financial situation at present, with Super Deporte explaining they were forced to go to a financial services company last week so that they could pay half of the current squad’s wages.
Reducing costs is a necessity, and they have already shipped out several first-team players on high wages to help with this.
That work continues, though and getting rid of Cillessen is considered ‘crucial’ to their plans as the ‘weight’ of his contract, and the amount the club still have to pay in amortisation, are simply too high.
Similarly, the amount of money that Valencia could bring in from a sale would also be beneficial, according to EMV, given the club don’t have much spare cash for signings.
However, both sources explain that getting rid of Cillessen is dependent on movement in the goalkeeper market across Europe.
He would prefer to go to Ajax, but that route is ‘becoming more complicated’ as it would be dependent on them selling Andre Onana to Chelsea, who don’t have him as a priority at this moment in time.
Thus Valencia need to look elsewhere and try to sell to one of his other ‘suitors’. Everton are ‘one of them’ but only if they can offload Jordan Pickford first.
That hasn’t happened, nor has there been many suggestions it will, and so Valencia have held ‘conversations’ with clubs in Germany including Schalke, Bayer Leverkusen and Hertha Berlin.
Everton, though, would presumably be the ideal choice as they can not only afford the goalkeepers wages but would be able to pay a higher price than their German counterparts.
Their interest is nothing new either. They were linked with Cilessen last summer, with numerous reports in Spain, particularly the Catalan media, stating that they were keen and pushing for a transfer.
That never happened, but it would mean there’s a relationship there with the player that they could take advantage of and use to push a deal through quickly should they wish. If not, it’s at least clear he’s a player on Marcel Brands’ list.
This is all purely conjecture on our part, mind, and given it seems to be dependant on Pickford leaving first, it may be a while before anything more concrete happens, if at all.
