UD Almeria’s CEO was at pains to point out, on Tuesday morning, that Everton are not the only club who have made their interest in El Bilal Toure known.
“It is not only Everton,” Mohammed El Assy tells Diario de Almeria. “But it’s not just them. Officially, there are three clubs interested in El Bilal with formal offers on the table.”
But are Wolves one of them? Well, no.
It is three weeks now since French publication FootMercato reported that Wolverhampton Wanderers were readying a bid of £22 million, plus bonuses, in an attempt to get former Reims starlet Toure through the door as ‘quickly’ as possible.
But, unless our definition of ‘quick’ is completely different to that of the Molineux bosses, it seems that FootMercato may have jumped the gun somewhat.
Wolves surely cannot afford El Bilal Toure
El Assy, nearly a month on, insists that so far only one Premier League club has made a ‘formal offer’. And that club in question is not Wolves, but Everton.
“Two of (the clubs who have made bids) are Italian, and one is English. And now we are in the middle of negotiations,” El Assy adds.
“We are not going to broadcast (the details of the negotiations) in the media. It all depends on the value they present to us.
The Almeria CEO was reluctant to comment on Sacha Tavolieri’s claims that Everton were offering to trigger the £34 million release clause in Toure’s contract.
The Mali international’s Goodison Park arrival would be financed by the recent sales of Anthony Gordon and Moise Kean. He will reportedly take home around £70,000-a-week after putting pen to paper on a five-year deal at Goodison Park.
Everton will pay £34 million
And, reading between the lines, it should not come as much of a surprise that those Wolves links have grown cold. Even if Toure would be a welcome addition to a team who scored the fewest goals in the Premier League last term.
It’s not long since Julen Lopetegui was reportedly considering his future at Molineux amid concerns that his spending power would be heavily restricted this summer (i News). Lopetegui has since committed his immediate future to the club.
But still, a repeat of previous windows – when Wolves brought in the likes of Matheus Nunes, Goncalo Guedes and Matheus Cunha for big fees – will not be repeated this time around.
The Athletic suggest that Wolves could be priced out of deals for Alex Scott and Viktor Gyokeres. Both of whom are valued at around £25 million.
If Everton are now willing to pay nearly £10 million more than that to bring Toure to Goodison Park, then Wolves have no real choice but to bow out of the race and turn their attention to more affordable alternatives.