Speaking on the All Together Now podcast, journalist Greg O’Keeffe has slammed a potential deal involving Harry Winks that could see him end up at Everton.
There have been several claims that Frank Lampard and Everton hold an interest in midfielder Winks, with that talk likely to increase given that Tottenham Hotspur are closing in on a deal to sign Yves Bissouma.
Winks could well be a decent signing for the Toffees, as he’s quite good at getting the ball and keeping things ticking over in midfield. He completed 86.6% of his passes last season, which is impressive when compared to Abdoulaye Doucoure, who had the best out of any current Everton player to have started at least one league game with 80.1%.
O’Keeffe, however, responded to recent reports in the Mail (via Goodison News) claiming Winks could be involved in a deal that would see Richarlison leave for a reduced fee – which is something he doesn’t want to see happen.
Would Winks be a good signing for Everton?
Yes!
No!
He said: “Another thing I absolutely don’t want to say, I’ve heard tittle-tattle about it. I will lose my [mind] if we end up, if you say he [Richarlison] did go to Tottenham, and Harry Winks comes the other way in some sort of makeweight where the fee gets driven down even more.
“I know there’s talk about the deal over Dele Alli, whether that would impinge it. If we’re going to lose our best player, I want that cash going into our balance sheet. I don’t want a neither-here-nor-there midfielder coming in as a makeweight and money being written off against Dele Alli.
“That will be the worst scenario, for me, to be honest.”
TIF Thoughts on Winks to Everton…
While the stats mentioned above show that Winks could be a good addition to Everton, if he was to arrive and their top scorer from last season was to depart for what would be less than the reported £50m price tag on his head, it would look a very poor piece of business.
Richarlison has reportedly told Everton he wishes to leave this summer, which could be understandable given he’s a Brazil international and has had interest from the likes of Spurs, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in the past, so fighting relegation last season may have been what tipped him over the edge in terms of wanting his Everton career brought to an end.
However, if the Toffees are going to lose their star player, they will want all the money they believe he’s worth and as much of it upfront, and if they also still want to sign Winks, they can get that done in a separate deal to ensure they aren’t losing out.