Everton won't get involved in bidding war for Witsel

Lyndon Lloyd | Monday, 11 July 2016

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Ronald Koeman remains keen on signing Axel Witsel but won't be held to ransom over the player.

Everton are believed to be close to signing the Belgian international from Zenit St Petersburg but the vacuum of news generated by his post-Euro2016 holiday in Sardinia has given room for media speculation to grow over reported hitches in the transfer.

Reports that Napoli and, possibly, Chelsea are back in the hunt for Witsel have been played down by sources in the Russian media. Still, SportItalia claim that Napoli have now agreed a €22m deal with Zenit and a four-year, €4m-per-year salary deal with Witsel, for whom the final details on image rights need to be ironed out before he can put pen to paper on any deal with the Serie A club.

Nevertheless, the Liverpool Echo are claiming that Koeman will move on from his attempts to land the 27-year-old if a bidding war opens up.

The Blues have also been linked with Morgan Schneiderlin and European Championship winner William Carvalho in recent weeks, both of who can operate in a similar defensive-midfield role.

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