Everton have allegedly made a €15-million (£12.8m) bid for River Plate striker, Rafael Santos Borre, according to Fox Sports.
Reportedly, Comu Tricolor and Publimetro, have claimed that the American TV news outlet has reported that the Merseyside club has launched a bid for the Colombian (via Sport Witness).
However, the €15-million bid may not be enough to pry Borre from the Argentine club’s hands due to a €30-million (£25.6m) release clause in his contract (as per Sport Witness).
Slow-moving deal
Aside from the fact that Everton’s supposed bid is half of the amount that the Argentine club are after, there may be another sticking point to the deal.
As reported by Toda Pasion, River Plate are unwilling to acknowledge any bid for the 24-year-old until after the Argentine cup final on 13th December (via Sports Witness).
Interestingly, journalist Carlos Antonio Vélez, who works for Antena 2, confirmed that there has indeed been an offer for Borre, but he didn’t state the name of the club, so it remains to be seen as to whether it’s the Toffees.
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TiF Tactics – A good move for the Toffees?
It seems strange that the Toffees would be targeting new signings, and even going as far to bid for them, while there has been such uncertainty surrounding Marco Silva in recent times (as per The Sun).
However, if the deal is in the works it would be a good signing for the Toffees should they be able to pry the Colombian away from Argentina for such a low fee.
This term, the frontman has bagged an impressive seven goals in 11 league outings for the Superliga side (as per Transfermarkt).
Furthermore, the 24-year-old vastly outranks Everton’s most prolific striker from this term, Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Englishman has five goals in 16 appearances for the Toffees, with an average of 6.45/10 (per Whoscored), while Borre has an impressive 7.22/10 average for the season (via Whoscored).
So, the striker would offer a definite upgrade on what Silva already has at his disposal in the front line at Goodison Park, should he be able to hit the ground running in the Premier League.