Everton fans should not count their chickens in their club’s pursuit of Watford manager Marco Silva, according to a reliable journalist.
The Telegraph’s Merseyside correspondent Chris Bascombe is one of many to have reported on Tuesday that representatives of Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri made a formal approach for Silva on Monday morning.
Watford rebuffed the interest from Everton even though the Portugese, 40, would like the opportunity to hold talks with the north-west outfit.
Bascombe reported that formal approaches usually end in clubs’ securing their target, but highlighted how a number of failed transfers in the summer is proof that deals are no longer “straightforward”.
Usually when reach formal approach stage it only ends one way, but as we saw with a few players last summer not so straightforward nowadays https://t.co/4ANLzH6V6L
— Chris Bascombe (@_ChrisBascombe) November 14, 2017
The Telegraph claim that Silva is now the preferred choice of Everton ahead of other candidates Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche and current caretaker David Unsworth.
OPINION
There will be nerves among the Everton top brass as their manager saga reaches critical point. It is clear that Silva is now the No1 candidate and all the others are merely attractive alternatives. The question is, how far is Moshiri prepared to go to get his man? With no release clause in place, Everton might have to fork out for a massive compensation fee to persuade Watford to grant permission for the in-demand Portugese to leave. But a number of high profile, failed summer transfers, such as Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool and Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, showed that massive offers and the will of the buying club and player is no longer enough to get the deal done. Even middling clubs can now hold firm and keep their prize assets.