Everton make £34M bid for Wolves target
Everton have reportedly offered £34 million for La Liga striker El Bilal Toure as the Toffees look to fight off competition from Premier League rivals Wolves, Fulham and Nottingham Forest.
While financial concerns scuppered Everton’shopes of signing a new centre-forward in January – Farhad Moshiri’s promise broken as the Merseysiders missed out on the likes of Danny Ings and Beto – reports suggesting that the Toffees have made a colossal bid for El Bilal Toure suggest that Sean Dyche now has a far bigger budget to play with than predecessor Frank Lampard had.
Sacha Tavolieri reports that Everton are offering £34 million for Toure. The Almeria frontman would receive a five-year contract at Goodison Park, while taking home around £70,000-a-week
There is also interest from Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Fulham. Everton appear to be at the front of the queue for the time being, however; a striker capable of easing the burden on the injury-prone Dominic Calvert-Lewin right at the top of Dyche’s summer wishlist.
Everton, meanwhile, have raised considerable funds via the sales of Anthony Gordon and Moise Kean. Gordon joined Newcastle United for £45 million late in January. Kean, meanwhile, completed his permanent return to Juventus in May, to the tune of £25 million.
Everton could now invest half of that combined £70 million sum in bringing Toure to England.
The Ivory Coast-born Mali international joined ambitious Almeria from French outfit Reims in 2022. His seven La Liga goals last term played a major role in keeping Almeria heads above water; Toure scoring an equaliser against Atletico Madrid and a winner against Spanish champions Barcelona.
Tavolieri’s claims come a few weeks after the Daily Mail suggested that Everton were ‘stepping up their interest’ in Toure. One of the fastest forwards in the whole of La Liga, Toure would add pace and presence to the Everton frontline, and should fit Dyche’s system far better than the inneffective Neal Maupay.
