Wilfried Gnonto will join Everton from Leeds United today, with the two sides having agreed a deal worth €45m.
That’s according to Sport Mediaset, who say Gnonto ‘will say goodbye’ to Leeds today as a deal with Everton is ‘all done’.
The Toffees have been chasing the Italian’s signature all summer as they look to reinvent their goal-shy forward line for Sean Dyche this season.
Numerous attempts and talks have been held between the two clubs, but Leeds have been resistant to a deal happening, insisting Gnonto is not for sale even when he went on strike in an effort to force through a move.
The potential deal appeared to be dead in the water after he was reintegrated into Daniel Farke’s squad but a report from Italy today made it clear Everton were making one last push on deadline day.
It was claimed earlier today they were doing everything to secure the transfer, boosted by Alex Iwobi’s imminent sale to Fulham, and Gnonto’s agent was in London pushing for it to happen.
Sport Mediaset now follow that up boldly and say a deal between Everton and Leeds is ‘all done’ for a fee of around €45m. They do not make it clear if that is on its own or the overall sum including bonuses.
It would surely be the latter as most reports have indicated a fee of €25-30m for Gnonto, so this figure is a significant increase on that.
It’s also a figure it’s hard to see Everton paying given the perilous state of their finances, even with the incoming money from Iwobi. We’ll take it with a pinch of salt because of that, but what is clear is that the Gnonto saga is far from over.
