Everton close in on £28m signing of Crystal Palace’s Yannick Bolasie• Fee would match club record paid for Romelu Lukaku in 2014
• Everton also interested in Lamine Koné, Juan Mata and Rachid Ghezzal
Everton are confident of completing the signing of Yannick Bolasie after positive talks with Crystal Palace over the Democratic Republic of Congo forward.
The Merseysiders saw an £18m bid for the 27-year-old rejected on Monday but returned with an improved offer 24 hours later. That is understood to be worth up to £28m in add-ons, which would match the club record fee paid to Chelsea for Romelu Lukaku in 2014, although Palace are still negotiating how the deal would be structured.
However, with Alan Pardew keen to complete the signing of Christian Benteke from Liverpool for around £30m, it is expected that a deal will be struck and Bolasie could sign in time to be in contention for Saturday’s Premier League opener against Tottenham.
Bristol City, who sold Bolasie to Palace for just £350,000 in 2012, are due for a large windfall having inserted a sizeable sell-on fee in his contract.
Having spent four seasons at Selhurst Park, Bolasie is understood to be keen to test himself at a new club. The deal has been brokered by the former Sunderland chief executive Margaret Byrne, who resigned over her handling of the Adam Johnson child sex abuse case, admitting she made “a serious error of judgment” by allowing the former England winger to continue playing despite having privately admitted he had kissed and groomed an underage schoolgirl.
It is understood Bolasie is a long-term target of Steve Walsh, Everton’s new director of football, who had tried to sign him while he was still at Leicester. Palace have also been offered the Senegal striker Oumar Niasse on loan as part of the deal but have yet to decide whether to take up that option.
The Everton manager Ronald Koeman is keen to step up his recruitment drive having sold John Stones to Manchester City for £47.5m on Tuesday, with Swansea’s Ashley Williams due to complete an £11m move and a £17m bid made for Sunderland’s Lamine Koné.
Manchester United’s Juan Mata has also been linked with a move to Goodison Park in the Dutch press, while the Algeria winger Rachid Ghezzal is another potential target. West Ham submitted an £8m bid to Lyon on Tuesday but president Jean-Michel Aulas is keen to retain his services.
“I held his hand, I spoke to him. He wants me to talk with his advisers and I will call them this week to try to break the deadlock,” he told L’Equipe.
“I love Rachid, who is one of the symbols, with Nabil Fekir, of this Algerian community at Lyon. It would be really great that we can reach an agreement.
“We have received offers for him, including that of West Ham. I know Rachid will not leave Lyon so you have to find an agreement not to stay in a situation that is not good for neither party.”
Guardian