After months of speculation regarding Everton interest in Benfica’s Raul Jimenez, the end of the story turned out to be quite disappointing for those who were expecting a big deal.
The Portuguese media said the Eagles wanted a lot of money for the striker, with reports president Luis Filipe Vieira would demand €50m for the transfer to happen.
But as reported by A Bola today, Everton’s late offer was much less than that. For starters, they didn’t even try to get the player on a permanent deal.
Things then became harder for the player to leave when the Portuguese side sold Konstantinos Mitroglou to Olympique Marseille.
Although they signed Gabriel Barbosa from Inter Milan to replace the Greek international, it will be important to keep Jimenez as an option in the squad in case the Brazilian starlet doesn’t impress.
Given Jimenez has failed to really convince at either Atletico or Benfica, Everton’s loan offer doesn’t sound such a bad idea from the perspective of the Goodison Park club.
Ronald Koeman must have planned to test Jimenez out and then decide on a permanent deal. Everton may well scout the player until January, and then return.
