Idrissa Gueye is set for a medical with Paris Saint-Germain on Monday as the Senegal midfielder moves closer to completing his move from Everton to the French champions.
The 29-year-old was pictured in Paris on Sunday after a deal worth €32m (£28.7m) was agreed at the end of last week, with Gueye now expected to sign a four-year contract with the option of an additional season at Parc des Princes. Everton’s manager, Marco Silva, had hoped he could persuade the player signed from Aston Villa in 2016 for £8m to stay at Goodison Park but it is understood Gueye was determined to move to PSG having seen a £21.5m bid by Thomas Tuchel’s side rejected in January.
A product of the Diambars academy in his homeland, Gueye spent seven years at Lille before moving to the Premier League and helped Senegal reach the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. Like Liverpool’s Sadio Mané, he had been granted extra time off to prepare for the new season and is now expected to link up with PSG’s squad later this week.
Meanwhile Everton have reportedly seen a £52m bid for Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha rejected, with the London club adamant the Ivorian will not be leaving Selhurst Park this summer. Zaha had previously been a target for Arsenal but their £72m move for Lille’s Nicolas Pépé has cooled their interest in the 26-year-old, with Silva’s side emerging as his most likely suitors, even if they are unlikely to match Palace’s £80m valuation .
Zaha signed a contract lasting until 2023 last summer and Palace are confident he will be at the club for the start of the season, although Roy Hodgson has admitted he is in the dark about the situation.
“Most of what’s going on with Wilfried is going on between him and the chairman,” the manager said. “I can’t enlighten you at all, I know what you know, I guess. I know it through reading on your websites or newspapers that this or that’s happening.”
But the former England manager was prepared to admit he was disappointed in Palace’s recruitment so far this summer, having added only the goalkeeper Stephen Henderson and forward Jordan Ayew after selling Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Manchester United for £45m in June.
“I thought we were pretty much all on the same page, that we definitely need players, because our squad is very small. But I’m afraid at the moment we’re still there with the ones that started pre-season training,” said Hodgson.
“Sporting director, Doug Freedman, and our chairman, Steve Parish, I know they are working hard to find the right people to bring in. I’m confident that before the start of the season this squad will look bigger in terms of numbers and stronger in terms of the quality of player we bring in.”