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Everton must offload Mirallas for good

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OPINION

Marcel Brands must enter talks with Fiorentina as soon as he can to ensure that the Serie A club signs Kevin Mirallas on a permanent basis once his loan deal expires.

Mirallas, 31, joined La Viola in the summer on a season-long loan which includes an option to buy.

However the Belgium international is struggling for first team football in Florence so as it stands, it does not look as though Fiorentina will trigger the clause for a permanent deal in 2019.

Mirallas has made just three starts in Serie A and appeared five times off the bench, so director of football Brands needs to try and talk the Italians into signing the winger as soon as possible otherwise he will end up back at Goodison Park at the end of the season.

That would be a bit awkward because in an interview with La Nazione last month, Mirallas has already made it clear that he wants to quit the Toffees and sign permanently for Fiorentina.

“My target is to remain here and convince Fiorentina to sign me on a permanent deal. Fiorentina is a perfect club for me and the city is great. My family and I are in love with Florence. Everything is super here and I am ready to show that I am the right person in the right place,” he said.

“We are not living this situation as a temporary one but we want to make my stay permanent, it would be an extraordinary target for me.”

Mirallas is earning a huge £3.6million-a-year on his Everton deal, according to statistics website Spotrac, so Brands must get him off the club’s wagebill in the New Year.

The Belgian has another year to run on his deal as well so keeping him on the fringes of the squad for the 2019/20 season before he can leave would be a huge financial error.

Hopefully Brands’ negotiating skills can make Fiorentina see that Mirallas is actually a decent player once he is handed the chance to play regular first team football.

Otherwise Everton could be ruing the cost of not cashing in on the once-impressive winger sooner.

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