Everton linked with Brazilian playmaker

With Wayne Rooney on his way out of the club, and Davy Klaassen’s future murky at best, it makes some sense that Everton would be interested in another playmaking midfielder for the upcoming season - particularly one who scores goals.

Benfica’s (on loan at Besiktas) Anderson Talisca fits that bill, and there are reports from Portugal (via SportWitness) linking the player to Everton. Roma are said to also be in contention, and their pitch to the player is Champions League football.

Besiktas’ buy-out clause for Talisca is around €21m, so you can expect any transfer fee from Benfica to be around there if not higher.

Talisca, 24, scored 19 goals in 46 appearances for Besiktas this season while assisting on 5 others. He has compared his game to Neymar in the past, but generally sticks to a central position, capable of playing in midfield or higher up close to a striker.

Of course, an attacking midfielder isn’t Everton’s most pressing need, and if you smelled a little bit of Davy Klaassen surrounding this rumour, you wouldn’t really be wrong. At the very least, though, it’s encouraging to see the Blues linked with players in this age bracket instead of those in the Gylfi Sigurdsson, Yannick Bolasie, and Theo Walcott range.