Everton have until this evening to activate Boulaye Dia’s €25m release clause, but Salernitana are hoping to sell him to the Toffees for more than that.
That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who cover the situation and what the Italian side are hoping will happen in the coming hours.
They explain that the deadline to activate his €25m release clause is this evening and while that existing still ‘feeds the anxiety’ at the club, who don’t want to lose the striker, the hope is that it won’t be activated.
While ‘anything can happen’ given Dia has a long list of suitors including Everton, none of the enquiries have yet turned into ‘concrete negotiations’ for the player.
Dia has also changed agent in an effort to push things along, swapping Frederic Guerra for Russian Vadim Vasilyev, who has connections in England, but this has not sparked anything into life.
The hope is that his suitors will ignore the impending deadline and thus leave Salernitana free to negotiate a high price for him in the coming weeks.
That’s because, after spending €14m to sign him from Villarreal permanently this summer, a deal which also includes a 20% sell on clause for the Spanish side, selling him at €25m would mean little to no profit for Salernitana.
They are instead hoping to keep the striker beyond midnight, then open negotiations with Everton and sell him for much more than the value of his release clause.
It’s an ambitious idea given the state of Everton’s finances, but at the moment at least, the power seems to be in the Toffees’ hands.
Move now and get Dia for the value of his release clause or let it expire and be forced into negotiations for a much higher price.
