The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has made a claim regarding clubs tracking Everton star Richarlison.
During the January transfer window, it was reported that Richarlison had caught the attention of Barcelona and the Catalan giants had seen a €100m (£85m) bid rejected by the Toffees (per Sky Sports).
While it later transpired that there had been no such bid, Boyland and Greg O’Keeffe revealed ‘there has been interest in the player from Camp Nou’ (per The Athletic).
So, in the latest episode of The Athletic’s Gwlad Tidings podcast, Boyland discussed the transfer interest in signing the Brazilian attacker.
He said: “Barcelona, if you listen to some people, are still following Richarlison and have been following him.
“I think other top teams have, in a sense, you would be silly not to given how good he is and how versatile, how flexible, how much upside there is to somebody that’s still only 23 and is already Brazil’s number nine, in most cases.
“When you start to see rumours emerging like that [Barcelona bid], you wonder what’s going on behind the scenes, some of which we can piece together but not everything, obviously.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Boyland had to say, Barcelona have seemingly previously tracked Everton’s star man, and could still be doing so.
Do you think Richarlison will still be an Everton player beyond next season?
No, I think he'll go soon
Yes, he's loyal to us
Following Richarlison’s recent interview in which he told Globo Esporte that he can “hold on for another season” with Everton, but will “sit down and talk” if an offer is made for him, (per Liverpool Echo), perhaps the forward’s long-term future is not at Goodison Park.
However, the Brazilian has four years left on his contract with the Toffees and a market value of £46.8m according to Transfermarkt, so it seems likely that Everton would be on the receiving end of a hefty fee if he was to leave.