Almeria sold their star striker from last summer, agreeing a €25m deal with Real Sociedad for Umar Sadiq, and it looks as if they are looking at another major sale this summer. CEO Mohamed El Assy has confirmed that they are in talks over the sale of El Bilal Toure, one of which is from Everton.
Toure arrived from Stade Reims for around €8m last season, and started off well at Almeria, but was hampered by injuries. In total he made just 15 starts last season, but maintained a good goals to minutes ratio, with 7 goals and 2 assists in 1,272 minutes (one goal contribution every 144 minutes).
However he did show flashes of his potential, technical ability and pace, enough to interest foreign clubs in a move. Speaking to Diario de Almeria, El Assy confirmed that they were in talks with three clubs for Toure.
“It is not only the offer from Everton. There, a new owner has bought a part of the club, but it’s not just them. Officially there are three clubs interested in El Bilal with formal offers on the table. Two of them are Italian and one is English.”
It should be noted that although they eventually did sell Sadiq last summer, El Assy publicly said that a deal was done in July, over a month before it was confirmed.
“And now we are in the middle of negotiations, which we will look at, as we are not going to broadcast them in the media.”
“If he had done so it would have been impossible to make sales worth €72 in Segunda. Depending on sales, we will strengthen ourselves. With Sadiq until the last moment we couldn’t sell. It all depends on the value of the offer they present to us. We are happy with El Bilal because he is a hard-working person and a phenomenal striker.”
Toure is thought to have a €40m release clause in his contract, but it would be something of a surprise if Everton, or their competitors, were to fork out close to that for Toure. While he is young and talented, after just seven goals last season, it is still potential teams are betting on rather than the finished product.
