With the Friedkins expected to complete their takeover at Everton soon, it’s time for the transfer rumours to really start picking up ahead of January.
Today it’s the turn of AS Roma Live, who say a swap deal involving Beto and midfielder Bryan Cristante could be on the cards.
They say that the possibility of the latter leaving Roma is increasingly less far fetched than it once was and the new relationship with Everton could be a part of that.
According to the website the hypothesis of an exchange with the Toffees is currently being formulated that would see the striker heading back to Italy in exchange for Cristante and a small amount of cash.
Roma like the striker and have done for some time and see him as an ideal back up to Artem Dovbyk, with the current squad lacking such a player.
Everton, meanwhile, are lacking a defensive midfielder of Cristante’s ilk and so the deal is seen as beneficial for both sides on that front. Both players are also valued at €15-20m, so it would be easy to propose a swap deal, albeit with a ‘slight adjustment’ to suit the Toffees.
Thus, the two sides could sit down and talk and work something out, which shouldn’t take too long if they’re under the same ownership.
However, this very much feels like a case of a rumour getting carried away with itself. For a start, why would Beto leave Everton, where he’s stuck on the bench, to move to Roma to sit on the bench behind Dovbyk?
Furthermore, if the Friedkins are doing deals between their clubs it seems unlikely they’d be reducing Beto’s price and taking a loss on him after just a year, even if that year has not been a successful one.
And then there’s the fact that Everton’s midfield is actually well stocked at this moment in time and probably not the area they need to be strengthening for now.
In fact, there’s plenty of reasons why this would make little sense and for now the idea feels like nothing more than one cobbled together simply because the Friedkins are set to complete their takeover and it’s easy to link Roma and Everton together.
