A couple of Portuguese newspapers today have a front page story saying Benfica are close to signing Grêmio star Everton Cebolinha in a €20m deal.
When seeing this, we wondered if Premier League side Everton should’ve worked harder for his signing. The Toffees were strongly linked to the player for the past year, and the fee now looks like a bargain.
And it seems the Goodison Park side have indeed made some moves for his transfer recently, with manager Carlo Ancelotti speaking to the player.
This story started with a report from UOL at the weekend. They wrote that Everton are still interested in Everton Cebolinha and planned to make an ‘effective move’ for his signing.
There’s another update from UOL today, and they now claim that last week Carlo Ancelotti spoke to Everton on the phone, asking him to sign for the Toffees.
However, the winger is keener to join Benfica, since he believes he’d have a faster adaptation in Portugal. The Eagles would be his ‘entry door’ for European football, and then he could move somewhere else.
That’s a reasonable scenario, given he’d have no language issues and likely find it easier to settle in Lisbon than Liverpool.
UOL believe it’s not completely over, so perhaps Everton still have a shot at his transfer. Especially if they make a bigger offer than Benfica.
