Everton's attempts to sign Swansea City's Gylfi Sigurdsson could be on brink of collapse because of fee disagreement
There are growing fears that Everton’s long-running attempts to sign Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson for a club record fee may finally be on the brink of collapse.
It had been thought that a deal was close but Ronald Koeman is understood to be increasingly frustrated at the club’s continued failure, so far, to agree a fee for the 27-year-old midfielder who he regards as the key signing of his summer transfer spree.
The Everton manager even suggested on Monday that a deal was imminent to bring Sigurdsson to Goodison Park despite previous bids being rejected by Swansea.
However according to sources close to Everton there is understood to still be a discrepancy of now less than £5million between what the club are willing to pay and the fee being demanded by Swansea.
Furthermore sources close to the deal have suggested that a fee of around £45million, to be paid up front with no add-ons, was verbally agreed between the two clubs before an attempt has been made by Everton to renegotiate the terms.
This has led to real fears that Swansea might simply now walk away and declare that they are going to keep Sigurdsson given they had hoped the disruptive saga would be resolved before the start of the season this weekend when they kick-off away to Southampton.
Swansea had also previously warned Everton that they will not be bullied into selling the Icelandic international who played such a crucial role in their Premier League survival last season scoring nine goals and providing 13 assists.
Sigurdsson has made it clear that he wants to move to Everton, and made himself unavailable for the club’s pre-season tour to the United States, but a deal is yet to be struck.
Swansea have previously insisted that they wanted £50million but there appears to be a willingness to negotiate so that the deal is agreed. However those negotiations have not gone smoothly and there is a fear on Merseyside that the deal may be falling apart.
The saga has been frustrating for all parties including Swansea manager Paul Clement who has previously suggested he wanted Sigurdsson’s future resolved before the season started.
Everton have had a busy summer of transfer activity with a number of signings including bringing back Wayne Rooney and acquiring Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane, for fees of £30million each, and Davy Klaassen for £23.6million while Romelu Lukaku was sold for an initial £75million.
However Koeman has always regarded Sigurdsson as a vital addition to his team and the kind of player who could even make the difference between Everton finishing in the top four or outside it this season.
If Sigurdsson does sign it is not expected to be the last move made by Everton with Koeman also still wanting to bring in a left-back and a left-sided centre-half as he builds a squad to challenge.
Daily Telegraph