Everton midfield target denied work permit, appeal upcoming

Everton have been held up in their attempted transfer signing of Santiago Sosa after the young Argentine failed to obtain a work permit last week after the FIFA Transfer Matching System went live on June 11th.

The Blues already had an agreement in place with Boca Juniors for the midfielder’s transfer for the sum of £13.5 million, but the deal has not been completed pending the receipt of a work permit for the youngster, as reported by Argentine outlet La Pagina Millonaria (via Liverpool Echo).

In our previous article about the player we had reviewed how many points he would likely score in the work permit application system and had concluded he would only get two points and would require getting a Governing Body Endorsement.

The player was reportedly scouted by Everton Director of Football Marcel Brands during the U-20 Copa America earlier in the year, a tournament that Richarlison leveraged some years ago to arrive on the big stage.

Unconfirmed sources are saying that the 20-year-old actually ended up earning five points in the rankings, for his transfer fee, wages, representing his country (at the youth international level) and for playing in the South American international club competition (Copa Libertadores).

However, for some undisclosed reason he will still need to go to appeal through the work permit application in the first place. Per the media source, that appeal is expected to be resolved this week so we should know sooner than later whether the Blues will be getting Sosa or not.