According to L’Equipe, El Bilal Touré “finally decided” to “respect his first opinion” and accept a move to Atalanta instead of Everton.
This was called a “fight to the last moment” by French media to recruit the 21-year-old striker, who joined Serie A.
L’Equipe previously reported on July 7 that Atalanta were “ahead of the competition, especially Everton” to land the Mali international, and it appears this has now come to fruition despite the increased belatedly from Goodison Park.
Fabrizio Romano and Alan Myers both reported a flurry of activity when the two teams faced each other on Sunday night (July 23), but amid a report from Mundo Deportivo in Spain (July 25 7) said that ‘Almeria has decided to join the club. Faced with a slightly higher offer from Bergamo, it seems their young striker has made the same decision.
According to L’Equipe, Atalanta’s offer would be worth a total of nearly 33 million euros (£28.3 million) including bonuses. Clearly Everton’s board should have worked harder to get a much-needed goalscorer rather than sit idle at Goodison Park, but missing the final minutes of the match would have had the same result.
Toure looks like an uphill battle as it’s clear Atalanta are strong in the race as they look for a replacement for Rasmus Hojlund, on his way out.
But the Toffees must have thought the door was still open, otherwise they wouldn’t have pushed it all the way, and it looked like they had a chance until the Italians made their final offer after a deal was reached sold Jérémie Boga to Nice.
Everton must have backup plans, so there’s no time to waste energy at the back when Sean Dyche still needs attacking reinforcements.
It was a similar story a year ago, with Frank Lampard needing a replacement for the recently sold Richarlison, so the fact that the club have come this far in a similar position forever is no big deal. Neal Maupay failed to prove he was the right answer last summer, so the Toffees will need to be wary of making the same mistake this time after seemingly missing their main target.
