Everton have obvious advantage as player pushes for transfer – Battle on asking price possible

With Antoine Griezmann now a Barcelona player, there’s likely to be some movement on player departures at the Camp Nou.

One player who is unlikely to be pleased with the arrival of the Frenchman is Malcom.

The Brazilian struggled for game time last season and Griezmann’s signing is only going to have made his path to first-team football all the more difficult.

He’s been linked with a move away from Barcelona for much of this summer, with Everton one of those thought to be interested, and Cope report today he’s held discussions about his future with the club.

According to them, he’s made the La Liga side aware he wants more minutes and is willing to leave to get them. Indeed, yesterday was the first time the two parties have met and now the club understands his stance.

So far there have been no official offers, although Arsenal had proposed a loan deal but Barcelona aren’t interested in that. They want a permanent sale.

Marca back that up and say that while Malcom has not asked to leave Barca, they have discussed possible destinations for him. Everton and Tottenham are both named as  interested and have ‘followed him regularly’ in recent months.

Barca, though, want at least €60m for the Brazilian, which seems a high price given they only paid €41m for him last summer and his lack of playing time last season.

Everton, more than any other Premier League club, have experience of dealing with the Catalan club for signings. That has to be an advantage, and the first challenge would be getting the player keen, then there’s that asking price to work on.