Everton were dealt a blow to their transfer hopes on Tuesday as mooted midfield target Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg joined a rival Premier League club but they can alleviate matters with a swoop for Aaron Ramsey.

What's the word?

According to Duncan Castles, Juventus are prepared to offload the Welshman on a free transfer just a year after joining the club from Arsenal.

It's claimed that the Toffees are one of the teams keen on clinching him but face the major stumbling block of his whopping £400k-per-week wages, though you'd imagine he'd have to take a pay cut if he's going to move on from the Serie A.

Ramsey is currently valued at £25.2m by Transfermarkt.

Meanwhile, Hojbjerg's £15m move to Spurs was confirmed earlier this week.

Forget Hojbjerg

Whilst the former Saints skipper would have been a very decent addition in Carlo Ancelotti's engine room, a move for Ramsey could well be the better play.

If you forget about his wages for just a minute, he's still one of the best box-to-box midfielders in Europe and despite being marred by a supposed poor injury record, he still featured 35 times for the Italian giants this term - and that's because of team selection rather than niggles.

Back in 2015, Steven Gerrard lauded the ex-Gunners maestro as the 'best attacking midfielder in the Premier League' whilst his old boss Arsene Wenger believes he is the 'complete midfielder'.

This is reinforced by his numbers from the 2013/14 season when the 29-year-old provided 12 goals and nine assists and finished with the most tackles of any Arsenal player.

If Ramsey could find half of his form throughout his north London career, then Everton would still be getting a major upgrade in midfield - one that is a massive need.

Neither Tom Davies nor Andre Gomes could average over a 6.5 rating this campaign whilst a measly 0.6 key passes per game is the best either could muster.

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Davies or Ramsey? There's surely only one answer.

AND in other news, Everton can end winger nightmare with a move for ex-PL FLOP...