Everton looking at new replacements for Gueye and Zouma

It appears Idrissa Gueye is very close to sealing his Everton exit with a transfer to Paris St Germain, and the move could be announced very soon. The Blues have been insistent all along that he would not be sold until his replacement is lined up, and now another name has been mentioned.

Rumours last week had four players identified - Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Lucas Tousart, Adrien Tamèze and Tiémoué Bakayoko - to fill in the defensive midfielder slot. While all fpour have their merits and disadvantages, media outlets are reporting this afternoon that a new name has been thrown into the mix.

Southampton’s Mario Lemina has expressed his desire to leave the Saints this summer and has been linked previously with Manchester United and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and especially since Wolves saw their bid for another rumoured Everton target Boubakary Soumare turned down.

Lemina is 25, and has come through FC Lorient, Olympique Marseille, and Italian giants Juventus before landing at the Saints, and is a similar player to Gueye but with much less success in most of the tackling and interception metrics. He has featured 52 times for Southampton in the last two years, scoring twice and assisting twice.

Everton have another area they’re looking at this summer and it’s one of big concern. Kurt Zouma did an excellent job last season while on loan from Chelsea at the centrehalf position next to Michael Keane, making the starting spot his. However, it appears now the Stamford Bridge side under new manager Frank Lampard are unwilling to let him leave.

Earlier this summer, there was a line of thinking that with how well youngster Fikayo Tomori did on loan at Derby County last season in the Championship with Lampard, that he would prefer to keep the 21-year-old and let Zouma go.

Now with that door almost closed, Sky Sports are reporting that the Toffees are instead shifting sights from Zouma to Tomori instead. The Canadian-born centreback has 35 youth international appearances and appears to be ready to make his presence felt on the big stage. He featured in 55 games last season, scoring twice and assisting once, and could be considered ahead of Lewis Gibson and Morgan Feeney in his development.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Blues can snag Tomori then where that leave Mason Holgate, and if Everton will indeed pursue another veteran centre half in the ten or so days left in the summer transfer window.