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With news rife that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola are about to make another huge offer for defender John Stones, Everton continue to be linked to centerbacks from all over.
The latest in line is Villareal’s Mateo Musacchio, who is reportedly holding out for a move to one-time Italian giants AC Milan but is being closely watched by English sides Everton and Tottenham Hotspur.
Everton would like to go into the upcoming season with at least three experienced central defenders, and if Stones ends up leaving, that will leave club captain Phil Jagielka and Ramiro Funes Mori as the only central defenders who are not from the youth setup.
Spurs are close to completing the loan of Federico Fazio to Roma in Italy, and would like to replace the player as they prepare for a long season of European football.
Musacchio has been a key member of a Villareal side that finished the last La Liga campaign in fourth place, qualifying for the Champions League. He is a decent defender, and is quite comfortable with playing the ball out of defence. However, he is not renown for his strength in the air, which has been a critical issue for the Toffees’ defence.
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The 25-year-old defender is under contract with the Yellow Submarine until June 2018 . He has two senior caps with the Argentina national team, with 18 appearances in youth internationals.
Musacchio is right-footed but equally comfortable playing as either centerhalf. He featured in 21 games, with a fracture and a hamstring injury marring the season. The broken leg was sustained at the end of the 2014-15 campaign where he played in 24 games.