Jean-Philippe Gbamin’s agent says how much money he lost ripping up Everton deal amid Arsenal claim

The agent of Jean-Philippe Gbamin has claimed that the midfielder walked away from £5 million to terminate his Everton contract.

Gbamin joined the Toffees from Mainz for a fee of £25 million in 2019. Yet the Ivory Coast international endured a horrendous period at Goodison Park because of injuries. Gbamin was restricted to just eight appearances for Everton and was shipped off on loan to CSKA Moscow and Trabzonspor.

The 28-year-old did not report back to Finch Farm for pre-season training in the summer, with his representative Bernard Collignon declaring Gbamin wanted to find a new club.

But no offers landed on the Blues’ table, which led to Gbamin ripping up his contract on transfer deadline day despite still being tied down to another 12 months. He still remains a free agent almost two months later.

Speaking to the Guardian, Collignon said: “It was not easy to cancel the contract with Everton. JP left a one-year salary on the table, worth £5m. He didn’t take any money. The club had to wait until the end of the window to see if there was a club who wanted to buy him, but nobody wanted to pay Everton’s price, especially for a player that can sign [a pre-contract agreement] for free in January.

“We found the agreement of cancelling the contract 20 minutes before the deadline, at 11.40pm. Once the deadline is passed, you cannot cancel the contract in the same way.”

Everton had high hopes when Gbamin was signed under Marco Silva. He was highly regarded, with Collingon claiming that Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham were also keen. He added: “Arsenal and Tottenham wanted Jean-Philippe in 2019. Jürgen Klopp, who managed Mainz, had wanted JP before signing Fabinho. But we chose Everton because if you arrive straight away at a big club in England, it’s very difficult to make it.

“N’Golo Kanté would never have been the player he was at Chelsea if he didn’t arrive at Leicester. The same with Riyad Mahrez at [Manchester] City. Kurt Zouma went straight to Chelsea and didn’t do well straight away. The same with [Romelu] Lukaku, Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne, Timo Werner. The level is so high, but also the approach is so demanding. Players have to be ready for all of it.”