Everton in late effort to sign Aston Villa player – Had plan to send own player to Lille

Le Parisien have an interesting report on Friday night, concerning both Everton and Aston Villa in the Premier League.

As the deadline creeped forward, it’s stated Lille wanted to sign Andre Gomes from Everton. The 30-year-old played for the Ligue 1 side on loan last season, given he’d slipped out of the picture at Goodison Park.

The French club were obviously impressed enough to give him another go, and according to Le Parisien they wanted to get him through the door today.

Everton were prepared to part with Gomes, but they had an important condition. The Toffees wanted to get another signing through the door themselves.

According to the report, that man was Aston Villa Leander Dendoncker.

Lille were waiting for Everton to conclude a deal with Aston Villa for the Belgian player, which didn’t happen. Therefore, they weren’t able to take Gomes, who they had considered signing both via a loan or a permanent transfer.

Everton also tried to sign Dendoncker in August 2022, so he’s clearly someone on their radar.