Everton open talks over £30m loan-to-buy deal for Paris Saint-Germain striker Hugo Ekitike

Everton have opened talks with Paris Saint-Germain over a loan deal with Hugo Ekitike with an option to buy for £30m, says Ignazio Genuardi.

Writing on his personal Twitter account (9 August), the former editor of F365 France wrote that talks are ongoing between the two clubs as the Toffees look to bolster their forward line.

Reports of a bid worth £34.6m emerged on Wednesday, however Genuardi reports that Everton want a loan deal with an option to buy while PSG want it to be an obligation and talks are continuing over that aspect of the transfer.

“Yes, Everton is interested in the Parisian Ekitike, but the talks are about a loan and not a transfer,” he wrote.

“After having seriously thought about M. Dembélé, Iheanacho or even Gyökeres, the Toffees are working in particular on the former Rémois.

“Two other targets are on the Championship side with Daka from Leicester and Adams from Southampton.

The negotiations start on the basis of a loan with OA [option to buy] of 35M€ (£30m). To see if the operation is accompanied by a mandatory option and under what conditions in this specific case.”

Makes sense

Everton need to strengthen but spending such big money on a striker who hasn’t exactly set the world alight so far in his young career looked like a big gamble.

The club have already sorted a deal for Youssef Chermiti who falls into the same category, so doing it again for Ekitike would have been odd when we need goals now.

A loan deal with an option to buy makes much more sense as it gives us the chance to bring him in and see how he adapts to Sean Dyche’s system and the Premier League before being forced to splash a big sum of money on him.

Our financial situation is not the best and we can’t afford to get big deals wrong, so a loan makes far more sense for us although it’s understandable why PSG would rather get the money signed off now.

There are a few weeks to go in the window so there is plenty of time to negotiate and find a deal that suits everyone, so this is certainly one to keep an eye on.

In other Everton news, blockbuster offer tabled as Dyche looks for another striker.