On Thursday, O Jogo has an article saying Everton are interested in signing Bruno Martins Indi from Porto. They reckon Ronald Koeman would have around €130m to spend this summer so the club wouldn’t be left behind by the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Many European outlets have covered it as an original story from O Jogo, as if the Portuguese paper were breaking news from the local club, but they were not. O Jogo’s story said “according to the Dutch Media”, without mentioning which source they used to make their article.
We’ve made a search through the Dutch media, and it looks like O Jogo were basing their claims on Voetbal Primeur’s story. They were the ones claiming Koeman’s €130m budget as the website made a list of possible signings for this transfer market.
Voetbal Primeur say that Koeman’s interest in Martins Indi is due to their years together at Feyenoord. They believe that €10m should be enough to buy the player from Porto.
The Portuguese media seem to agree with that. Martins Indi hasn’t been starting regularly for Porto, and O Jogo says that the club should be selling some of their defenders this summer, which makes a transfer look possible.
Voetbal Primeur’s story is an opinion piece, that’s all… albeit based upon their own knowledge of Koeman. They say that besides Martins Indi, Everton could spend money by going after Axel Witsel, Juan Mata, Marko Arnautovic and Quincy Promes. Memphis Depay and Nacer Chadli are also mentioned as “pleasing options” for the Toffees.
Quite a big list, that.
