Everton spent much of last summer being linked with a move for Matheus Nunes.
At one point it looked like a matter of time before the midfielder swapped Lisbon for Liverpool, and the Toffees were expected to pay around €20-25m.
That deal didn’t materialise, with some claims being made that Rafael Benitez wasn’t keen on the player.
When the season got going it quickly looked like Everton’s chance had passed. Nunes was impressing for Sporting and made his debut for the Portuguese national team. Born in Rio de Janeiro, the 23-year-old was also wanted by Brazil, but chose the European country instead.
Clubs with bigger budgets started to be linked with Nunes, and Pep Guardiola praised the player ahead of a match between Manchester City and Sporting.
Thursday’s edition of O Jogo reports that’s not the case. It’s claimed Everton ‘advance’ for the signing, having watched the player throughout the recently concluded season.
He’s one of the club’s ‘priority targets’ after they were left ‘astonished’ with his development.
O Jogo believe Everton are set for new investment, given the recent Peter Kenyon rumours, and could therefore pay €50m for Nunes, who has a €60m buyout clause.
That sounds like wishful thinking for supporters, but the claims are there and it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the coming days.
