Even if they are yet to find the right man to replace Ronald Koeman, Everton are still active on the transfer market, and a new centre-back is apparently something the Toffees are looking into for next summer.
Spending over £25m on Michael Keane hasn’t quite shored up the defence as well as they hoped, and the Merseyside club are now said to be after Lazio’s Stefan De Vrij.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Everton are one of three clubs (with Juventus and Inter) said to be after the Dutch centre-back, although we expect that list to be far longer, as it has been well documented Liverpool have taken an active interest in his contract situation.
Yet to renew, the 25-year-old’s current deal expires in the summer, meaning he’ll be able to talk freely to clubs from January onwards, and the Toffees apparently intend to be in the mix if he still hasn’t put pen to paper in just over a month.
Then again, if he does, that shouldn’t stop Premier League clubs, with a release clause said to be part of the negotiations, which also happens to be the sticking point.
Over the past few weeks, the figure has changed here and there, but if an agreement is found, the amount should be somewhere between €20-30m.
This would be solely for Lazio to make money from the deal rather than see their star centre-back leave for nothing at the end of the season.
Either way, it seems De Vrij is likely to leave the Serie A side next summer, either for free or for a nice chunk of cash.
