What the ECHO knows about Idrissa Gueye, Thierno Barry and Kenny Tete as Everton step up transfer plans

What the ECHO knows about Idrissa Gueye, Thierno Barry and Kenny Tete as Everton step up transfer plans

Deliberations between the club and the player have been lengthy but there is confidence a deal will be reached as transfer activity ramps up at Everton

Idrissa Gueye wearing a commemorative 'end of an era' match shirt during the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton, the last senior men's game at Goodison Park. Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

Everton are hopeful a deal can be reached to keep Idrissa Gueye at the club. The midfielder’s current contract is due to expire this week and talks over a new deal remain ongoing.

Those deliberations have continued since the end of the campaign, with Gueye having been offered fresh terms after an impressive season in which supporters and his teammates named him the player of the year.

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The 35-year-old was key to the form that led Everton away from a relegation battle after the return of David Moyes to the Blues dugout in January and club chiefs want him to be part of the squad that leads the side into a new era at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

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Moyes was particularly impressed with the Senegal international as he offered him stability in a side that became depleted with injuries, though with him due to turn 36 at the start of the season, he is keen to move away from such heavy reliance on the former Paris Saint-Germain man.

While negotiations have been protracted, with the length of terms thought to have been the key issue, they are understood to be advancing and there is confidence a deal can be struck. When Gueye returned to the club from PSG three seasons ago, finalising the terms was a lengthy process though the outcome was positive.

Should his stay be extended he would provide a useful dose of stability and quality during a season of immense transition. Whether Michael Keane will be part of that story has not yet been publicly confirmed, with his current contract also set to expire this week.

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Efforts to resolve Gueye’s future are just one plotline in an important week for the club. The ECHO understands discussions with Villarreal over Thierno Barry are progressing, though a bid has not yet been made for the forward.

The sporting director of the Spanish side, Fernando Roig Nogueroles, said at the weekend that the club wanted to keep hold of the France youth international but appeared to suggest there was an openness to negotiations over his star players, particularly if they wanted the move.

The end of the 22-year-old’s involvement in the now-concluded Under-21s Euros removes one hurdle, while the start of July will represent the beginning of the new football financial year.

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With it will come the opportunity for Everton to be more ambitious than during previous transfer windows as a new cycle will begin under the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations, one in which the worst regulatory excesses of the final years of the Farhad Moshiri regime will no longer cast a shadow over calculations.

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The extent of work required to add depth to Moyes’ squad means the free and loan markets will continue to be explored by Everton for another summer. That work is already underway with the club having launched a bid to lure Kenny Tete away from Fulham.

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The 29-year-old’s contract at Craven Cottage is set to expire but the London club is keen to keep hold of the right back and has offered him new terms.

Should he instead decide on a move north, the defender would offer Everton a potential solution to the longstanding problems on the right of the defence.

While much of the focus is on incomings, the most significant development of the summer could well be a new contract being agreed with Jarrad Branthwaite.

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Moyes wants to build around the 23-year-old, his defensive partner James Tarkowski and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and keeping hold of the centre back was central to the club’s summer ambitions.

While Everton were operating from a position of strength given he had two years, plus a club option of a third, remaining on his current deal, there was an acceptance that fresh terms that better suited his importance were necessary.

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