£25m Everton player who Liverpool ‘wanted to sign’ eyes summer transfer

Jean-Philippe Gbamin is keen to return to leave Everton this summer and return to Germany.

The midfielder has endured a woeful time at Goodison Park since arriving from Mainz for £25 million in 2019. Gbamin has made just nine appearances for the Toffees in total, having suffered several injury problems.

He spent the 2022-23 season on loan at Turkish side Trabzonspor but has fallen down the pecking order of late.

Gbamin has a year remaining on his current Everton deal. But his agent Bernard Collignon - who claimed Liverpool and Arsenal were previously keen on the Ivory Coast international - has reaffirmed that Gbamin will leave the club in the upcoming transfer window.

He told the BBC: "We will have to find another project for him. I am the one who chose Everton for him because it would have been a stepping stone to move on elsewhere.

"There was interest from Arsenal, Tottenham and even Jurgen Klopp wanted to sign him for Liverpool six months before but now Jean-Philippe wants to go back to Germany.

"It is unbelievable what has happened at Everton. "Jean-Philippe is so disappointed with everything that has happened and how things have not worked out for him.

"The reason he suffered his initial injury was because he was not fit. That is why he got injured. They had to give him time and not rush him back into action.

"The club should have let him play in reserve games to achieve full fitness and also to gain confidence so that he would be ready for the intensity of the Premier League."