Everton plot £35m swoop for Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson but may have to sell Idrissa Gueye to fund transfer
AMBITIOUS Everton are planning a £35million bid for Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson.
But they could be forced to sell Idrissa Gueye to finance another major spending spree.
Manager Marco Silva is convinced that his team are only a goalscorer short of breaking into the Premier League’s top six.
And he has identified England international Wilson, 27, as the man to spearhead that charge.
But the club are also desperate to sign Andre Gomes and Kurt Zouma on permanent deals after their successful season on loan at Goodison.
Signing all three players would cost the big-spending Merseysiders another £100m.
But the club have already spent more than £350m on new players since Farhad Moshiri became owner three years ago.
OVERHAUL
And now Moshiri has made it clear that Silva needs to reduce the size of his bloated squad before he can launch another spending spree.
Silva is still hoping to raise the necessary funds by offloading Goodison flops Cenk Tosun, Oumar Niasse, Yannick Bolasie, Nikola Vlasic, Sandro Ramirez and Cuco Martina this summer.
But there is not exactly a queue of likely buyers for any of those expensively recruited stars.
And that could force Everton into reconsidering interest in Gueye from French Champions Paris St.Germain.
French international Gueye was keen to move to the Parc des Princes in January but Everton insisted the tough-tackling defensive midfielder was not for sale.
But now they could be open to a £45m bid for a player who cost them just £7m when he joined from Aston Villa as one of the first signings of the Moshiri regime.
Wilson has scored 15 goals for Bournemouth this season and has just been named as part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad for next month’s Nation League finals.
He still has three years remaining on the contract he signed last summer and Cherries boss Eddie Howe is determined not to lose his top scorer.
But Bournemouth could find it hard to resist a massive offer for a player who only cost them £3m five years ago and has suffered cruciate injuries in both knees.
