One transfer rumour that’s had Everton fans on edge for the past couple of months is that of their interest in Gabriel Magalhães.
Once appearing to be in the lead to sign the Brazilian centre-back from Lille, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have since dropped behind Napoli in the race, seemingly dilly-dallying post-Coronavirus over terms they had previously agreed.
Everton are still in the race, however, but they will need to work hard in convincing the defender to join them, and they have a fairly short window to do so.
That is, at least, what L’Equipe hinted at in an interview with Gérard Lopez, Lille’s owner, when asked directly about the future of his player following the expected exit of Osimhen to Napoli in the coming days.
He said: “We have other offers on other players, but we haven’t spoken to their players. With Gabriel, we are talking and we’ve given him an exit pass. He will choose his club this week”.
That’s when L’Equipe point out in parentheses that ‘Napoli are in the lead in front of Everton’.
With centre-back one of the big priorities for Carlo Ancelotti this summer, the Brazilian would go a long way to bolstering an area of need, but it remains to be seen whether the Italian’s and Everton’s draw are enough to stop him from following Osimhen to the south of Italy.
