So why do people think he’ll suddenly be attainable by Everton this year.
I suppose a number of factors come together, in a way that was probably similar to the James & Allan situation. The owner seems to turn on players quite quickly and dare I say in an irrational way. The player has 2 years left on a contract. All clubs have been hit enormously financially, and this looks like it will continue long until 2021 with the impending "3rd wave". So from the sellers side, there is now far more motivation to sell.
For Everton, the removal of FFP which may happen will suit us and remove probably the biggest obstacle that may have stopped us previously. The manager knows and likes him, the same seems true of the player. We may have European football. But also there is going to be a sharp reduction of buyers in the market due to covid. Many of the traditional "big spending" teams and natural destinations will not have the funds, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Dortmund, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan potentially even Manchester United will all be spending a lot less than previous years.
So it opens up new potential avenues and solutions. I don't know if it's a goer at all and am by no means saying it will be done, but I can see a world where it happens. Strangely I didn't see that when we went for him in 2016. I didn't see any need for Napoli to sell and didn't see us wanting to pay say 70m or whatever they wanted. Objectively, I can see how 3 or 4 different things have fallen into place now, which makes it a possibility.
Madness that he is our highest paid player. Wasn't it reported that Sandro was on a similar wage?
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