Everton to sack Allardyce but may struggle to appoint top target Marco Silva

Sam Allardyce is to leave Everton within the next 48 hours with Marco Silva the leading candidate to replace him. Multiple reliable Everton reporters such as Andy Hunter, Dominic King, David Maddock and Chris Bascombe are all saying that Allardyce is expected to be sacked at a meeting with Farhad Moshiri this week.

The news follows a report on ESPN earlier on Monday that claimed Allardyce’s time at Goodison Park was coming to an end. The Toffees will then go back in for Silva, who they originally targeted to succeed Ronald Koeman in October.

Shakhtar boss Paulo Fonseca is also under consideration, but it’s claimed Everton will only turn to the 45-year-old if a move for Silva fails. Fonseca meanwhile was rumoured to have interviewed for the position at West Ham United earlier today.

The link with Silva is not exactly a surprise, but this is the first time national journalists with strong Everton connections have gone with the story since he was sacked by Watford FC.

The Hornets had repeatedly refused permission for Everton to speak to the Portuguese during the autumn, despite Moshiri being willing to pay up to £12m to free him from his deal there.

Watford then suffered a slump in form and sacked Silva in January, blaming Everton’s “unwarranted approach” for turning their manager’s head and subsequently losing his focus.

However, despite Silva now being without a club, his appointment may not be that straight forward.

Silva remains in dispute with former club Watford over the settlement terms of his sacking. The Portuguese manager claims he was sacked prematurely and is after around £750,000 to cover six months salary.

Watford, on the other hand, may take legal action against Everton if they deem their approach last October to be illegal. Silva had a break clause in his contract to leave this summer for a minimal fee - but Watford now deem that void because of Everton’s approach and his actions.

Moshiri, who is expected back in the UK tomorrow, is expected to speak to both parties in attempt to come to an agreement. But those legal wranglings could severely hamper Everton’s attempts to get a deal done quickly, potentially delaying any appointment by several weeks.

That would be far from ideal given this summer’s World Cup and early transfer deadline means the summer break is contracted and opens on Thursday. But at least there is some movement on replacing one of the most unpopular Everton managers of modern times.

It’s set to be an interesting week at Goodison Park.