Lukaku in contract talks with Everton while Koeman expects to make three new signings
Everton boss Ronald Koeman is still expecting three new signings before the transfer window closes as the club fights to keep Romelu Lukaku and John Stones.
Lukaku is currently in talks over a new contract despite spending all summer agitating for a move, and Koeman has told the board he does not want the Belgian sold.
Everton are not impressed with Chelsea’s attempts to sign Lukaku and are digging their heels in because he would be difficult to replace so late in the window.
The Londoners are willing to offer £65 million plus Loic Remy to re-sign the player they sold to the Merseyside club for £28m.
But Remy is not a player they are interested in and with that bid failing to get anywhere near Everton’s valuation of Lukaku, the club are determined to remain bullish.
That is also the case with John Stones, who was recently the subject of a £40m “take-it-or-leave-it” bid from Manchester City.
Everton rebuffed three bids from Chelsea for Stones last year and value the England defender at £50m. They are under no pressure to sell.
New investor Farhad Moshiri has yet to make the big splash in the transfer market he wanted this summer, with new signings Maaten Stekelenburg and Idrissa Gueye failing to set pulses racing.
But Moshiri remains confident he can deliver, and with his stance over Lukaku and Stones he has already shown he will not be bullied.
Everton still have almost £100m to spend in this transfer window and are prepared to widen the search for reinforcements.
Swansea’s Ashley Williams remains a target but Everton have their sights set on bigger names than the Wales defender.
They still have
a bid worth up to £30m on the table for Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Axel Witsel, and have indicated they are willing to outspend Chelsea for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who could cost £54m.
The Blues were also linked this week with Germany’s Julian Draxler despite Wolfsburg categorically ruling out his sale in a strongly-worded statement.
It would take one of the biggest climb downs in history for Draxler to leave now, but for the World Cup winner’s name to crop up is a measure of the club’s new-found ambition.
One agent acting for a player recently approached by Everton told Squawka: “There has been a major change at the club. It is clear.
“Everton are competing in the market for players previously out of their reach financially. There is an attractive project there. There is ambition.
“Partly this is the new reality of the money in the Premier League at the moment, but there is also a funding commitment there from the ownership that many other clubs cannot match.”
Lukaku and Stones both played for Everton against Manchester United in Wayne Rooney’s testimonial and both are expected to start the season at Goodison.
After that match, Koeman said: “We are working hard to bring in other players but it’s not respectful to talk about other players who aren’t playing for Everton. As soon as possible we hope to bring some new players in.”
Should the club decide to allow one of either Stones or Lukaku to leave, the most likely candidate now appears to be Stones.
There is a feeling City could still match the asking price for the 22-year-old, who has been their biggest transfer target all summer.
And when they were also pursuing Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte, sources close to the Spaniard suggested City told him Stones to the Etihad was a done deal.
That remains to be seen, but it now looks impossible for Moshiri to sanction the sale of both Stones and Lukaku so close to the end of the window.