A report has stated that the Toffees are currently ‘observing’ the situation surrounding AS Roma’s Italian midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini, according to Calciomercato.
As stated in the report, cited by Sport Witness, the middleman currently has a €30 million (£27.2m) release clause in his contract with the Serie A club, which has left Carlo Ancelotti ‘observing’ the situation.
The contract dilemma
According to the report, Roma want to offer the 23-year-old midfielder a new contract with a pay rise to remove the €30 million (£27.2m) release clause.
However, should Ancelotti wish to make a move for the Italian middleman, he will have to be quick off the mark to convince Pellegrini to not sign a new deal and, therefore, keep the release clause in place (via Sport Witness).
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TiF Tactics – How does Pellegrini compare?
In the central midfield position, the Toffees currently have Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Morgan Schneiderlin, Andre Gomes, Tom Davies, Fabian Delph and Gylfi Sigurdsson at their disposal in the first team (per Transfermarkt).
Of those, the Icelandic middleman, Gylfi Sigurdsson has been a key feature for the Toffees this term, having featured in 26 Premier League games, in which he has scored once and assisted twice (per Transfermarkt).
In comparison, the Italy international has featured in 18 Serie A games for Roma, during which he has scored one goal and assisted nine (per Transfermarkt). He’s produced three goals and 11 assists in all competitions this season.
With a deeper delve into passing statistics, Pellegrini’s quality over Sigurdsson really begins to show, with the Italian boasting far better key passing stats.
This term, Pellegrini has made 2.9 key passes, 42.4 passes and 2.3 long balls per Serie A game on average (per WhoScored), whereas Sigurdsson has made 1.8 key passes, 28.6 passes and 1.4 long balls per Premier League game on average (per WhoScored).
So, with Pellegrini having two seasons left on his contract after the end of this term (per Transfermarkt) and being available for just €30 million (£27.2m) if Everton can act fast, the stats suggest they should certainly do so.