Wilfried Gnonto wants to leave Leeds United in January and Everton could sign him for just £21.8m, according to a report by Calciomercato.
Writing on their website (2 November), the Italian news outlet report that the player is “counting the days until the winter transfer window reopens” and talks have already been held with Serie A giants Lazio.
But Leeds are demanding £21.8m to let him leave in mid-season which is currently deemed to high by Lazio, giving Everton the chance to step in if they so wish to revive their interest.
“Wilfried Gnonto is counting the days until the winter transfer window reopens,” they wrote.
“His firm desire to leave Leeds was already clear last summer when his move to Everton was blocked just hours before the final bell. Now he has asked his agents to find him a new destination with priority reserved for the Italian championship
“Lazio like Gnonto a lot. In recent days, a summit took place between the boy’s agent and the sporting director Fabiani.
“The request of €25 million (£21.8m) made by Leeds is considered too high but the parties will update again in the next few days to understand if there is room to obtain a discount.”
Here we go
There’s no way that we chased Gnonto so hard during the summer and have now just completely stopped caring about his situation, especially when you consider we didn’t sign anyone instead.
The club brought in Beto, Arnaut Danjuma, Youssef Chermiti and Jack Harrison on loan in attacking areas during the summer but chased Gnonto right up until the deadline passed, with the Italian seen as a prime target for much of the window.
But when it failed we continued with our squad rather than turning attentions to someone else, which means there is theoretically still space for him in the squad.
£21.8m would be a discount from the summer after we reportedly had bids worth up to £25m rejected, but Gnonto has found himself out of the team at Elland Road with Crysencio Summerville taking his spot.
That could open the door to an exit, and if that’s the case then Everton are likely to be front and centre once again when the window opens.
