Ernest Nuamah to Everton takes transfer 'twist' as John Textor strikes €35 million 'deal'

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Everton transfer news with Lyon winger Ernest Nuamah on the club’s list of targets.

Olympique Lyonnais could reportedly put the buffers on Everton target Ernest Nuamah leaving the club in the January transfer window.

David Moyes confirmed that the Toffees have shown an interest in the winger, 21, last week. However, the Goodison Park boss insisted that a deal with Lyon had not been agreed despite contrasting reports in France.

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Lyon are in a precarious financial situation after recording debts of £422 million and have been provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 by France’s football finance watchdog Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG). Les Gones’ situation must improve to ensure that they are not demoted to the second tier and some sales this month had been expected.

However, it appears that Lyon’s owners Eagle Football Holding - headed by John Textor - are set to land a significant windfall. Eagle also own Brazilian outfit Botafogo and they have agreed to sell star player Luiz Henrique to Zenit Saint Petersburg for €33 million with a further €2m in add-ons, according to L’Equipe. The French newspaper suggests that Lyon - rather than 2024 Copa Libertadores champions Botafago - hold the sporting rights to Henrique and will bank the fee from the Russian club.

Therefore, it is claimed that Les Gones may now decide to keep Nuamah, who came off the bench in a 0-0 draw against Toulouse last weekend. With Lyon under a transfer embargo, they will be unable to replace the Ghana international and he could remain with Pierre Sage’s side. This season, Nuamah has made 19 appearances, recording one goal and one assist. However, last term he produced eye-catching form as he bagged seven times and created three.

Textor, who wanted to buy Everton before being gazumped by The Friedkin Group, admitted earlier this month that Lyon need to make sales but not every member of the squad was available. Speaking to French outlet RMC Sport, the American said: “Our plan is to sell the players we planned to sell before the DNCG announcement. When you say everybody is for sale, let me tell you how football clubs work. When the club decides to sell certain players, it advances certain players into the market place because it needs to move them off the roster.

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“At the same time, it gets unsolicited calls from other clubs saying: 'Hey, I want to buy a player' who you didn't think of selling. You think: 'Huh, I haven't considered that, maybe I would sell him'. I'm only interested in selling players who we had planned to move anyway and I'm only interested in selling players if we have a better player that can come in behind him. That hasn't changed.

“I've read it everyone that the whole team is for sale. I've had clubs from Turkey offering me p*** money for players because they think we are desperate but we tell them to f*** off. It's not happening. This image the whole place is for sale is not happening. The problem is we have 29 players and we need 24. These guys need to eat. Top players are not happy unless they're getting play.”

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