Everton may bid for Balde as Gnonto hands in transfer request

With a few weeks of the transfer window remaining speculation is still rife about players targetted by Everton with stories claiming the club are now ready to bid for Mama Balde.

This rumour comes on top of the latest twist in the Wilfried Gnonto saga with the Italian forward now having apparently handed in a formal transfer request.

And that follows another report that Everton are said to have put in a £12 million bid for Southampton’s Che Adams within the last 24 hours.

Balde is the latest attacker playing in Europe that the Toffees have been linked with. The Troyes forward had a fine season last term scoring twelve goals for the French Ligue One side.

He is a pacey and powerful player who looks as though he might well fit in reasonably well to the demands of the Premier League.

Everyone knows the Blues need goalscorers and fast if this campaign is not to descend very quickly into another struggle and potential relegation fight. Could Balde be another option to consider?

Everton face Aston Villa tomorrow with huge question marks over who will score those goals following last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Fulham, which once again underlined the problem.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is currently fit and healthy (as of Saturday lunchtime anyway!) and surely must start tomorrow at Villa Park, although of course no one knows how long he will last before another injury strikes.

Youssef Chermiti, signed for nearly £15 million, is in all probability a long way off being able to contribute immediately so the burden still falls on Calvert-Lewin and anyone else who can chip in with a few goals.

Balde could be available for as little as 6 or 7 million quid, which is not a large fee so potentially making this a good deal to do.

Sean Dyche is said to be making a singular pitcWell, it is an interesting approach. Let’s hope it works and the Toffees can get at least another couple of players in who can solve the team’s goals problem before it is too late.h to his targets to try to persude them to join Everton basing it on a desire to revive one of England’s great football clubs and return it to past glories.

Gnonto has sat out Leeds’ past three games amid ongoing interest from Everton and has now handed in a formal transfer request [David Ornstein, 18 August].

Speaking as part of Sky Sports’ coverage of Leeds’ 1-1 Championship draw with West Brom on Friday [18 August], McAnuff told the Italy international to reconsider his stance.

I think we’ve all probably been in similar [situations] where there’s interest from another football club, maybe Premier League, and he’s sitting there in the Championship and he feels it’s his only way to force through a move,” McAnuff said.

“For me, it’s not the right way to do it. You get your head down. He was one of the only shining lights last year in what was a difficult season, and I think Leeds fans felt he could really help with that push to get them back in [the Premier League].

“I feel he’s been badly advised. He’s a young boy – we do have to remember that. For me it would have been to his benefit to get his head down, do his talking on the football pitch, then if someone comes in with an offer that Leeds can’t refuse, you get your move.

It was clear after Leeds’ draw with West Brom that manager Daniel Farke is sick of being asked about Gnonto’s future.

Incredibly, the German was not asked a single question about the game in his pre-match news conference earlier in the week, with the futures of Willy Gnonto, Tyler Adams, Luis Sinisterra and, to a lesser extent, Helder Costa dominating proceedings.

As far as Leeds’ stance goes, they stated last week that Gnonto is not for sale this summer, regardless of what offer comes in for the 19-year-old.

The Whites seem true to their word as Everton have made a fairly decent offer of £25million, albeit with some of that made up of add-ons [Sky Sports], which was knocked back.

With Gnonto now handing in a transfer request, a messy situation has got even messier as we approach the 11pm deadline on 1 September.At this point, it is a case

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In other Leeds United news, Phil Hay has said the Whites are happy to offload a player that nobody at the club is bothered about.