£75m or hands off Big Rom EVERTON WARN BLUES
EVERTON are determined to play hardball over Chelsea’s pursuit of £75million-rated Romelu Lukaku as Goodison Park welcomed new manager Ronald Koeman.
It was not the afternoon the Dutchman was hoping for as Espanyol proved they are growing up quickly under former Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores.
In fact, it’s not the scenario the blue half of Merseyside were expecting when Koeman arrived seemingly with a mandate to spend majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri’s multi-millions.
Only two players have so far arrived while Chelsea are trying to tempt old boy Lukaku back to Stamford Bridge while Manchester City continue to make overtures for John Stones.
But Everton have not received a single bid from Chelsea for Belgian ace Lukaku and are fed up with what they perceive is a campaign to unsettle the player through the media.
As in the case of Stones last season they are prepared to dig their heels in and won’t entertain anything less than an offer of £75m.
Koeman said: “We are going to add to the squad – that is a certainty. I was impressed with Idrissa Gueye who gave our midfield something different with his pressingpres and it was goodgo to have PhiP l Jagielka available.a It’s difficult when you miss two to three weeks of pre-season.”p But the locals are becoming restless.restle Only 12,080 turned up for this friendly. Although a record 32,000 season tickets have been sold in anticipation of a KoemanMoshiri revolution.
The Dutch boss, though, is expecting a busy week ahead of Saturday’s opener against Tottenham and is confident of making a breakthrough in his search for a commanding central defender.
Everton have upped their £10m bid for Swansea and Wales captain Ashley Williams. The Spaniards charged into a fourth-minute lead. New-boy Gueye brought Ruben Duarte crashing to the floor with a rash challenge which referee Michael Oliver deemed was committed just inside the area.
And another new arrival Maarten Stekelenburg found his first job in front of the Goodison fans was to pluck the ball from the back of the net as Leo Baptistao sent him the wrong way from the penalty spot. But the 33-year-old signed from Fulham after a season-long loan at Koeman’s old club Southampton made an impressive fingertip save to deny Baptistao a second.
Everton had the opportunity to equalise just before the break when Ruben Duarte tripped Gerard Deulofeu only for Ross Barkley to see his penalty brilliantly deflected on to the bar by keeper Roberto Jimenez.