Everton close to new Dele deal after breakthrough in transfer talks
Sean Dyche is hoping he can bring about a spectacular revival in Dele’s career with Everton close to reaching an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur over a revised payment structure for the midfielder but the Blues are set to miss out on Jaden Philogene.
Under the terms of Dele’s transfer from Tottenham to Everton in January 2022, the north London club were due a significant fee if the 28-year-old agreed a new contract at Goodison Park. Dele is a free agent after his Everton contract expired at the end of last month and as first reported by the Athletic, discussions between Everton and Spurs are ongoing over a revised payment structure that would allow the Blues to re-sign Dele should they wish and as part of this deal, Spurs are likely to retain a sell-on clause if Dele departs Everton for a fee in the future.
The ECHO understands that Everton chiefs are now close to reaching an agreement with their Tottenham counterparts over the matter which would give the green light for Dele – who is training at Finch Farm as the Blues offer him assistance over the groin injury that prevented him from playing last season – to potentially make a formal return to the club. Dyche, who vowed to leave no stone unturned when it came to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s long-standing fitness issues when he was first appointed, overseeing a regime that the striker described as a “factory reset” last summer that was rewarded with the player turning out 39 times in all competitions, is relishing the challenge of potentially getting Dele’s career back on track.
The famous CIES Football Observatory in Switzerland calculated that he was the most-valuable midfielder in the world back in 2018. However, despite his heavily-incentivised move from Tottenham Hotspur to Everton being potentially worth up to £40million, having played just 13 matches for the Blues, starting just once and failing to complete 90 minutes, no transfer payments were ever required.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa appear to have won the race for Hull City winger Philogene. Everton insiders said on Tuesday that they had a deal in place to sign the 22-year-old and the player – whose agent posted a photograph of himself at the Blues’ Finch Farm training ground – wanted to join them.
However, despite Crystal Palace – who are seeking a replacement for Michael Olise following his move to Bayern Munich – and newly-promoted Ipswich Town also being in the hunt for the England Under-21 wide man, Villa, who sold their former academy graduate to the Tigers for an undisclosed fee understood to be in the region of £5million on September 1 last year, have activated the matching rights clause and are now expected to re-sign Philogene next week for a £18million fee.
