Wilfried Gnonto to Everton transfer will be decided by money, PR and other clubs
Everton Notebook from Joe Thomas as he looks back on 10 days that have taken him from a seat next to Arnaut Danjuma to a front row view of the club’s latest target
The battle lines have been drawn in Everton’s pursuit of Wilfried Gnonto but it could be other clubs that end up playing a decisive role.
Leeds United quite clearly have a problem. Gnonto is training away from the first team and will not be involved in the club’s next game against West Bromwich Albion. He has already missed matches against Shrewsbury Town and Birmingham City and is the subject of an “internal disciplinary matter”, Leeds said last week.
The club remain insistent he is not for sale and hold most of the cards – as the ECHO has reported since early July, Gnonto has no release clause, is in the early stages of a long-term deal and on a wage that is considered affordable even with relegation to the Championship.
Yet having a star within the squad who is open to playing elsewhere is far from ideal and while Leeds have the power to keep hold of him well beyond the end of the summer transfer window, the thoughts of Daniel Farke and others within the hierarchy at Elland Road must also turn to the likelihood of him being able to reintegrate successfully once the year enters September.
Leeds’ belief throughout the summer has been that an Everton side operating on a limited budget would not be able to put in an offer that would tempt the club into talks that advanced any further than the Yorkshire outfit simply rebuffing bids.
Whether the club’s private valuation of the Italy international has gone down amid the instability could be tested if Everton could find the resources to continue pushing for a move. At the very least, Leeds are in a position where an offer would have to be big enough for the club to save face by accepting it.
There was some surprise within parts of Everton that the club was able to challenge, albeit unsuccessfully, for Almeria forward El Bilal Toure. So putting together a competitive package may be possible but dependent on two factors – how much Everton can raise through the outgoings of the several squad members the club would listen to offers for; and how much the club would need to part with in order to address its biggest current concern…finding cover and competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Gnonto saga could well go down to the final days of the summer window but will not advance unless Everton can produce an offer big enough for Leeds to accept without suffering reputational loss, which may depend on what others will pay for the Blues’ fringe players.
Everton and Leeds had a good relationship going into the summer and one player has already now moved between them after Jack Harrison’s loan switch was completed this week. Harrison had been a long-term target for director of football Kevin Thelwell and while his medical on Sunday morning may have come slightly out of the blue, Sean Dyche may have dropped a hint the deal was imminent in his press conference on Thursday.
When speaking about the state of the squad and the summer plans heading into the Fulham match the Blues boss, who is thoughtful about his words, told reporters including myself “we have got a couple on loan obviously” – at that point only Arnaut Danjuma had arrived on such a deal.
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Dyche was more than happy to speak openly about the impending arrival of Sporting striker Youssef Chermiti in that opening press conference, stating a deal for the 19-year-old had not yet been signed off but adding that it was close to being finalised. It is little wonder he was so confident – the Portugal youth international was at the training ground during that afternoon, being put through his paces on the training pitches.
A few days earlier I had been at Finch Farm to speak with Danjuma, the second of the four summer signings to date. In the programme for the Sporting friendly, club captain Seamus Coleman had written of the positive characters of the two deals then signed off – Ashley Young and Danjuma. The 26-year-old winger backed up that claim in person, providing a chatty, polite and positive interview.
He was clear he had made a “deliberate” decision to join Everton. He spoke well on how the uncertainty at the club following Frank Lampard’s departure had caused him concern in January but how his interest in the Blues had grown from that moment – through Richarlison’s dressing room taunts at Tottenham Hotspur, the Goodison reaction to Michael Keane’s late equaliser against Spurs in April and then his talks with Dyche this summer. For all the talk of Lampard’s pull last summer, Dyche has clearly been able to sell a vision each of his summer signings have wanted to be part of and his role in their arrivals should not go unnoticed. Whether he will get the opportunity to work with Gnonto remains to be seen but his first priority must be a striker.
One forward the club is looking at is the teenage starlet Malik Mothersille, who developed through Chelsea’s academy and who the London club were trying hard to keep ahead of the expiration of his contract this summer. Mothersille was a surprise addition to the teamsheet of the Under 21s at the Merseyside derby at Liverpool FC’s Kirkby training ground on Monday night. He is on trial with the Blues and made a late cameo – though he was part of a particularly young Paul Tait side that struggled to compete with the more experienced hosts.
U21s boss Tait will have more senior youth players to work with soon and it would be wrong to read too much into the 4-0 defeat, but the inclusion of Mothersille was a welcome storyline. Should the club agree a deal for the teenager it would be with a view to the future – he would be seen as a development signing as opposed to someone expected to make an immediate impact in the first team. But after seeing Ishe Samuels-Smith move the other way it is good to see Everton remain active in trying to find talents for the future as well as the present.
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