Everton have contacted Shakhtar Donetsk Chief Scout José Boto over a move to Goodison Park.
That’s according to Tuttomercatoweb, who say there have been ‘concrete’ contacts between the two parties.
Tutto have learned that Everton wants to ‘renew its management’ and that has led to the interest in Boto.
What’s not explained is what role they would be looking to offer the Shakhtar scout, but it’s doubtful it would be the manager’s position.
Marco Silva is under pressure, although he’s seemingly been given time to turn things around, and it seems unlikely they would hire a man whose last managerial position was at SG Sacavenense 13 years ago.
Instead, management, in this instance, is more likely to mean a background role at Everton. Boto has been a Chief Scout since 2010 and held the position at both Benfica and Shakhtar.
It seems more plausible that Everton are looking to add him into their structure in a similar role, with Marcel Brands’ position extremely safe at Goodison Park.
The Dutchman is highly regarded at the club, as proven by his promotion to the board of directors in January this year.
It’s more probable that Boto would be brought in to take up a role somewhere under Brands, who has worked hard to overhaul Everton’s transfer strategy and set up since his arrival at the club.
The most probable position is somewhere in the scouting system, with Everton potentially looking at inheriting Shakhtar’s strong record of identifying and signing Brazilian talent.
The Brazilian market is one they have begun to tap into in recent years with signings such as Richarlison and Bernard, and Shakhtar’s five most expensive sales are all Brazilians.
Since Boto’s arrival in 2018, they have continued that trend with six Brazilians, including Marcos Antônio from Estoril, arriving in the last two transfer windows alone.
The Blues are also one of the Premier League teams who consistently scout Portugal and Boto, a Portuguese national who worked in the country as a manager and Chief Scout between 1996 and 2018, could add knowledge and experience in that regard.
