Everton now ‘value’ player somewhere ‘between €15-20m’ – Club in ‘final sprint’ to sign him

It seems that all this interest in Bernard from AS Roma has made Everton up his price a little bit.

At least, that’s what Il Tempo are hinting at on Wednesday, claiming the Serie A side are in the ‘final sprint’ to get either the Brazilian or Stephan El Shaarawy, with Carlo Ancelotti’s club now ‘valuing the Brazilian somewhere between €15-20m’.

We say this because a couple of days ago, we covered an article from Gazzetta dello Sport reporting Bernard’s price had been set at €15m, which begs the question: why the sudden increase?

It could simply be that both newspapers have different sources who have been quoted different numbers, but there’s also the possible scenario in which Marcel Brands, fully aware Carlo Ancelotti wouldn’t sorely miss the former Shakhtar man, is wanting to see how far Roma are prepared to go to get him.

The fact they could have Robin Olsen included in the deal gives Everton most of the power here, since they would, regardless of the asking price, be getting the Swede and money in exchange for a player they don’t want.

It’s a win-win for the Toffees either way, as they either acquire a player they need and make a profit on a fringe squad member who arrived on a free, or they simply sell him for his asking price and bring even more money in the bank.