SHARE

 

Yesterday was supposed to be the day Barcelona sent the €12m clause to Everton for Gerard Deulofeu.

The Spanish club had already informed Everton they intended to use the clause, something which prevented the Premier League club speaking to anyone else, and it was just a question of when.

With the clause expiring at the end of June, it had to be pretty sharpish, but the Tuesday guesses turned out wrong.

Mundo Deportivo have an update on Wednesday, they say the clause wasn’t sent to Everton, and that Deulofeu doesn’t want the return anyway. He hasn’t said it publicly, but the Catalan newspaper explain Barcelona have found out via third parties.

Deulofeu knows he wouldn’t get the game time at Barcelona that he wants, and that he needs to be in Spain’s World Cup squad. Barcelona can’t use the clause without Deulofeu’s permission, so unless something changes, and very quickly, he’s Everton’s.

That will then leave Ronald Koeman to decide if he wants Deulofeu, and if not Everton can put the player on the market and hope for more than €12m.