Everton to offer defender as makeweight in Sigurdsson deal

As widely reported throughout the media recently, Everton have had two bids for Iceland player Gylfi Sigurdsson turned down by Swansea City. However, the third time the Blues go back could involve a young player, Callum Connolly.

After bids of £40m and the same plus £5m in add-ons, the next attempt could be sweetened with the addition of the young defender as the Welsh club seek to have their £50m evaluation met.

The Under-20 World Cup winner this summer has been touring with the Blues this preseason, playing against Gor Mahia, FC Twente and then KRC Genk. He was however not included in the squad for the Europa League qualifier, being dropped back to David Unsworth’s Under-23 side along with Kieran Dowell.

Everton are desperately in need of cover for left back Leighton Baines, and the departure of Connolly weakens a a very depleted position. However, the addition of Sigurdsson does shore up the attacking midfield area where the Blues struggled mightily last season, and were out of sorts for large parts of the first leg game against MFK Ružomberok on Thursday.

Photo by Andy Astfalck/Getty Images

The Sigurdsson saga has already threatened to plunge the Toffees summer transfer window into disarray with how long it’s run, and needs to be sorted out for once and for all as soon as possible.