West Ham being linked to Gerard Deulofeu has of course quickly made its way to the Spanish media. Deulofeu is in the current Spain squad, and Barcelona have a €12m buyback option, meaning there’s more than one angle of interest in the Everton owned player.
Interest from West Ham can help Everton get a good price from AC Milan, and also assist Deulofeu in getting Milan to offer him good personal terms. Milan are already trying any trick to get the price down, with it being reported in Italy this week that they’ve even spoke to Barca about the Catalan club using their clause and then selling to Milan… for less than Everton would have.
“If they take him back they can’t sell him for a season, so he has to stay in the first-team squad for a season. At the end of that if they decide to sell him we have got first rights of getting him back or we have got a big percentage of that deal.”
Another way to pressure Everton is for Milan to paint themselves as the only option in town, should Barca not be interested. West Ham interest, and indeed the interest of other clubs, would be a positive for Everton in this respect and help drive the price up.
Milan will play games over this deal, they tried to over the loan deal, and Everton need an alternative market to help them. West Ham could be crucial, but ultimately they could also be used.
