Everton’s summer seems to have sparked to life all of a sudden, after weeks without any sniff of an inbound transfer.
Now, they are seemingly rushing through all their business, with loans, transfers and potential sales all emerging at once.
It will be refreshing to see the Toffees get their business done nice and early, but similarly, it will make it a long summer as they try and keep Jarrad Branthwaite out of Manchester United’s clutches alongside Amadou Onana.
Should the latter depart though, at the very least they seem to have his replacement already lined up.
Everton submit bid for Dan Friedkin-produced starlet
The latest comes courtesy of Sky Sports journalist Gianluca Di Marzio, who took to his personal website to offer an update on Everton’s pursuit of Edoardo Bove.
Having been tenuously linked for just over a week now, the Italian offered a more concrete update, even suggesting that a bid had been submitted for the 22-year-old midfielder.
This has intensified with reports suggesting Dan Friedkin is closing in on his Everton takeover. The American also owns AS Roma.
He wrote: ‘Roma is moving to the market ahead of next season. In addition to the possible income, offers have come for Edoardo Bove: the midfielder born in 2002, who grew up in the Capitoline club and still never went to play elsewhere, likes in England at Everton.
‘The Toffees have in fact submitted offers for Bove, who therefore has opportunities to leave the club. We will see in the next few days if this offer will have concrete developments. In the 2023-24 season Bove found a lot of space first with Mourinho and then with De Rossi, collecting as many as 45 appearances, in which he scored 1 goal and 2 assists.’
This came just before Everton’s interest in re-signing Jack Harrison from Leeds United emerged; a deal which now seems set to be a formality.
Who is Edoardo Bove?
A product of AS Roma’s academy, the Italian first joined the club in 2012, and it took just nine years for him to make his first team debut.
Having since amassed 92 senior appearances, Bove has even starred for Italy U21s in a number of roles. Loosely defined as a mezzala or trequartista, capable of both scoring and defending, all reports suggest he is a willing runner who remains tactically disciplined.
For Sean Dyche, this seems perfect.
Young and malleable, it’s a testament to his quality that Jose Mourinho singled him out for praise during his side’s 2-0 defeat to Slavia Prague last year, noting: ‘I didn’t like anything. I’ve already spoken to the players in the changing room.
‘But today the best player in our team – the only one I really liked because he gave everything technically, tactically and mentally – was a 21-year-old kid who was not even in the first team two years ago.
‘We had one player who played with legs, body and mind – just one. When you have 11 players on the pitch and only one like that, you can’t win.
‘The only player who didn’t deserve to lose was [Edoardo] Bove. Everyone else, myself included, deserved to lose.’
His tenacity and technical quality would likely make him a fine Premier League operator, with Francesco Totti, an AS Roma legend, branding him ‘strong and versatile’.