Everton paying anything near to €35.5m for defender Jake O’Brien would be considered ‘phenomenal’ for the French side.
That’s according to Ferveur Lyonnaise, who cover the player today and how any move to Everton would be warmly welcomed this summer given the prices mentioned to date.
They explain that O’Brien is of interest to several teams this summer, particularly in England, where Everton and several other Premier Leagues sides have shown they’d be willing to do a deal in the coming weeks.
The defender was a ‘revelation’ for Lyon last season and reports have indicated that Everton are currently pushing ahead with a move for him.
Indeed, it was claimed on Sunday that they were preparing a €23.65m deal to try and convince Lyon, but that was likely to be rejected because Lyon want €35.5m.
They’re looking to secure a huge profit on the player, who only arrived in a €1m deal from Crystal Palace in August last year.
Securing such a price for the defender would be ‘phenomenal’ for Les Gones, representing a huge profit on a player who was a revelation last season and has seen his ‘rating explode’ in the last few months.
The reality of Everton paying such a fee is surely low, though, particularly if they don’t sell Jarrad Branthwaite this summer.
Not only do they not need to strengthen in that position at this moment in time, but they’re also in a tight financial position, as has been well recorded to this point.
Director of football Kevin Thelwell is being careful with the money they do have and that makes a big money move for O’Brien seem unlikely at this point, even if Lyon would welcome it.
