Three-way battle developing for Everton after £35m transfer agreed

Everton could be caught in a transfer merry-go-round with Crystal Palace and Leeds, as Wilfried Gnonto has emerged as a target for Roy Hodgson’s side.

Palace have just agreed a £35m deal to sell star winger Michael Olise to Chelsea, leaving them searching for a suitable replacement on the wing and Gnonto is being eyed as that signing.

Originally, they were linked with a move for Everton’s Demarai Gray; a fee of around £10m was deemed enough to secure his services and despite the fact that he hasn’t featured for Dyche this year, there has been no further movement.

However, Everton are still hoping to sign Leeds United’s Gnonto. The Toffees have already had two bids rejected for the talented Italian and the player is currently refusing to play for the Yorkshire side as he continues to push for a move away.

With Palace now securing a sizeable fee for Olise, they have funds to play with and given the reported figures for both Gray and Gnonto, they could conceivably afford both. But Everton will want to offload Gray in order to secure the Leeds forward.

Gnonto was recently slammed by former Leeds midfielder David Prutton for his current behaviour at the club; he called the player’s actions ‘scandalous’ and claimed he is burning bridges at the club. All of it points towards an inevitable exit as tensions continue to rise.

Producing two goals and four assists in the league as well as starring in the FA Cup with a sensational goal against Cardiff, Gnonto caught the eye during his time in the top-flight.

Highly rated, he already has 12 caps to his name for Italy and he looks like a player with a bright future.

Everton will hope that future is at Goodison Park but it may be a case of paying the extra few million pounds to secure his signing, especially given they’ve had two bids rejected already.

He still has four years left on his current deal at the club and Leeds are desperate to hang onto him, but with the player refusing to play and Premier League clubs showing interest, they might have no option but to allow him to depart.