Season › 2024-25 › News The Rumour Mill Everton set to battle AS Roma for Neil El Aynaoui, maintain interest in Douglas Luiz Anjishnu Roy | 14/07/2025 12comments | Jump to last Everton are set to battle sister club AS Roma in the race for RC Lens midfielder Neil El Aynaoui, according to a report in TEAMtalk. There could be a potential transfer battle between the clubs - both owned by The Friedkin Group - but with different recruitment and management teams. Roma are currently leading the race for the 24-year-old, but there’s a catch. “Roma’s interest in 24-year-old midfielder El Aynaoui has been widely reported, and we understand that they remain in a good position to sign him. However, Roma are also interested in Palmeiras’ centre-mid Richard Rios, and won’t sign both,” stated the report. “El Aynaoui has verbally agreed to a contract with Roma until 2030, but Everton and their Premier League rivals Crystal Palace have recently asked for information on the Lens star’s situation.” Ligue 1 side Lens are also in no hurry to sell the player and would encourage a bidding war instead. The French midfielder, who made 24 appearances in the league last season, has a contract with Lens until 2027 and his club will not accept an offer below £25.9m. The 24-year-old scored eight goals in 24 Ligue 1 appearances for the French side last season and ranked in the top 10% of Ligue 1 midfielders for interceptions, blocks and aerial duels won per 90. Meanwhile, the Blues continue to maintain firm interest in Juventus’ Douglas Luiz. Discussions are underway with Juventus over a deal for Luiz, according to transfer journalist Rudy Galetti, as the Blues look to bring the Brazilian back to the Premier League. Luiz had a successful spell at Aston Villa prior to his move to Turin, in which he has struggled to establish himself. After joining Juventus in a deal worth an initial £44m last summer, Luiz started just three Serie A games. He is keen to secure regular first-team football to boost his chances of making the Brazil squad for next summer’s World Cup. The TEAMtalk report suggests that £21.6m could be enough to secure his signing, but Everton will also face competition from other Premier League clubs, most notably West Ham. With Idrissa Gana Gueye, James Garner, Tim Iroegbunam and Carlos Alcaraz the only incumbents, Everton are currently light in the middle of the park. It remains to be seen whether they decide to end up going for either Neil El Aynaoui or Douglas Luiz or both and make a formal offer in the coming days. Reader Comments (12) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Alan J Thompson 1 Posted 14/07/2025 at 13:44:51 Roma will send him to us on loan in exchange for our none right back we've loaned to them. It's what happens when Accountants get involved as part of the Transfer Committee, how, who the hell knows or perhaps it's to persuade UEFA that we aren't doing a Palace. Mark Murphy 2 Posted 14/07/2025 at 17:22:55 Madness isn't it Alan?Did we actually sign that right back in the end? John Pickles 3 Posted 14/07/2025 at 20:04:25 We got Alex Nyarko from Lens, what could go wrong? Paul Kossoff 4 Posted 14/07/2025 at 23:51:39 AS Roma is owned by The Friedkin Group, an American investment group led by billionaire Dan Friedkin. The Friedkin Group acquired the club in 2020. Just checking that the people who own Roma also own...Everton!What about Everton report Roma for approaching one of their players.Roma try to prise Moyes away from Everton. Now that's stupid, isn't it? Why would they when both club's are owned by the same people.So this is fkg ridiculous, it's stupid filler, mildly better than, shall we keep Patterson, or Man Utd buying Kean the Everton flop. What's next? Roma pulling out all the stops in January to buy Barry? Well, it fills a page,dosn't it? Paul Kernot 5 Posted 15/07/2025 at 03:22:07 Exactly Paul. A bidding war would essentially mean the Friedkin's gazumping themselves. Excellent! Steve Shave 6 Posted 15/07/2025 at 07:58:14 I am curious about the continued links to Douglas Luiz, I suspect we are in because they are open to a hefty loan fee and an option to buy. An opportunity to get their money back on a player who has struggled in Italy. He is absolute quality though and I would love to see it happen. Steal and quality on the ball, he would improve our first 11 immediately and can play as an 8. We will certainly be considering a couple of loans out of all the players we need so this might be a way of spreading the cost to next season. I don't know much about the other lad linked here but I hope the Luiz rumour has legs. Matt Traynor 7 Posted 15/07/2025 at 08:54:17 Steve #6, I'm also curious about the Luiz links. Let's not forget Man City signed him originally, and loaned him out when I think he failed to get a work permit.Villa signed him from City, and by all accounts he was a standout player, and strongly linked to Arsenal.Two other things to bear in mind - Everton have not been successful with Brazilian players (albeit very limited experience). Also, his transfer from Villa to Juventus required Juve's Ladies team to sign his partner - Swiss International Alisha Lehman from Villa Ladies. She of course had half a season here on loan from West Ham ladies. So she'll at least know the club - whether she's a good enough player for the Ladies is for them to decide. Ian Bennett 8 Posted 15/07/2025 at 09:01:22 Richy did alright, Matt, and would advocate the club to have a passion like back home.Bernard flattered to decieve, Allan was past his best. Jo wasn't the best, but only on loan. Andrew Ellams 9 Posted 15/07/2025 at 09:09:59 Matt, I don't think they're an item any more so that's probably not an issue but she is a marketing gem. Stu Darlington 10 Posted 15/07/2025 at 21:21:47 I suspect the terms of a loan deal may be too hot for us on Luis but he would add quality where we need it.Potential transfer battle between us and Roma?Absolutely crazy,competition can only push up the price.Who wins in that scenario?Get a grip Friedkin! Si Cooper 11 Posted 15/07/2025 at 23:49:15 Makes no sense to pay the club more than Roma would but I suppose whether we can offer more to the player himself than Roma to entice them depends on where the player sits in our/ their overall plans.There could be some player ‘sharing’ deals made where the player signs on for some time at his second-choice to get the primary deal he wants.Some are only looking at the worst case scenario when it comes to being part of a multi-club group but there are potential advantages to be leveraged as well. Si Pulford 12 Posted 16/07/2025 at 17:25:38 Would love Luiz but surely he’ll be wanting champions league. Hopefully the fan base don’t get all excited about this one and realise we were probably never in for him. then destroy the club for dithering or whatever when he doesn’t sign. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb