Everton Director of Football Marcel Brands has an easy call to make on Deadline Day regarding the future of outcast winger and Middlesbrough target Yannick Bolasie.
What’s the word?
According to Sky Sports, Neil Warnock’s Boro are looking to lure Bolasie to the Riverside Stadium two years after he snubbed a potential move to the North East.
Bolasie favoured a deal to join Aston Villa in the second-tier at the time, but would now be keen to join Middlesbrough after preliminary talks were held with the Championship side.
Boro would need to finalise terms on a transfer with Everton by 17:00 on Friday with the domestic transfer window nearing its end, and would require the Toffees subsidising a large proportion of the 31-year-old’s £75,000-per-week contract, per Sky Sports’ Keith Downie.
Bolasie spent last season on loan with Sporting CP, scoring twice in 25 appearances before returning to Goodison Park after the Liga NOS giants opted against triggering a €4.5million (£4m) option to buy clause.
His last of 32 appearances for the Toffees came in May 2018 before joining Aston Villa, KRC Genk and Sporting on loan deals, having missed much of the 2016/17 season through a cruciate ligament rupture.
Boro have begun their 2020/21 Championship campaign with one win from four games, yet sit just two points outside of the Play-Off places after claiming a 2-1 victory over the winless Barnsley prior to the international break.
A simple task for Brands
Everton offloading Bolasie to Boro on Deadline Day is a simple task for Brands, as the Dutch chief will be well aware that Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti has no place in mind for the attacker.
Ancelotti told reporters earlier this month, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo, that the DR Congo international will not feature in Everton’s 25-man squad for the Premier League season.
“Bolasie is doing well, he's training well and properly. He's a professional,” said Ancelotti. “He is not part of the squad. He can train with us if he's not able to find a club until the end of the market, and if he stays here of course we are going to train him.
“But I said to him that we have a big squad, and unfortunately there is no space for him.”
Brands, therefore, must entertain the idea of loaning Bolasie to Middlesbrough even if Everton are required to pay a large per cent of his £75k-p/w contract, as Boro covering any part of his deal will ease the financial commitment being made to a player deemed surplus to requirements.
Bolasie being a part of the domestic Deadline Day is the real shame for the winger, having been signed from Crystal Palace for £25million in 2016 only to see his career nosedive since arriving at Goodison Park.
His knee ligament injury played a great role in the decline seen, but former Everton boss Sam Allardyce could still see the threat Bolasie offered following the blow.
“The team has been crying out for what he offers,” Allardyce said, via quotes by The Guardian in 2017. “Yannick is blessed with dynamic movements and pace that cause defenders great concern. He probably occupies two players when he’s at his best because he’s such a danger in possession.”
Warnock will be hopeful that Bolasie can offer his Boro side that level of offensive threat, having netted just twice in 21 Championship appearances for Aston Villa during his half-season stint in Birmingham.
AND in other news, Everton have made a decision on the future of a £3million outcast.