Thierno Barry has been on vacation in Miami where he reportedly met with David Moyes.
Football transfer insider Fabrizio Romano does not have a good track record with reporting Everton transfer, with Kenny Tete returning to Fulham the latest in a line of players that he gave the “here we go” to, only for their move to the Toffees to fall through for any number of reasons.
So when he recently indicated that Everton’s move for Villarreal striker Thierno Barry was nearly done, there was reason to be nervous for Blues everywhere. The 22-year-old was on vacation in Miami after playing in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship for France, and reportedly met with David Moyes in Florida where the Everton manager was based as he scouted the FIFA Club World Cup currently underway in the United States.
That sense of trepidation only increased as not only did the calendar turn over into a new financial year on 1 July, but only a couple of contract extensions were announced and no new players came through the door.
This morning though there is finally light over the horizon as The Athletic’s Everton correspondent Paddy Boyland has reported that Barry is traveling to Merseyside to undergo a medical.
The La Liga side and the Toffees are said to have agreed on a €32million (£27.5m) transfer fee, with add-ons not included. The player has a €40m release clause but the Blues were not willing to pay that full amount, and the two sides have been at the negotiating table about that.
Barry had a breakthrough debut season with Villarreal, scoring 11 goals in 37 appearances, averaging about 66 minutes per game. His goalscoring tally was no fluke either, coming off an xG of 12.4 with just one penalty in that total, quite unlike famous flop Sandro Ramirez who was unable to parlay his 14 La Liga goals for Malaga into anything tangible for the Blues.
With Dominic Calvert-Lewin having left the club at the end of his contract last month, Beto and Youssef Chermiti are the only recognized strikers left at the club. With the latter expected to go out on loan, that would leave Beto and Barry as the only recognized centre forwards, so we can expect the Blues will still be active in this area, but for now the focus will certainly shift to winger where trio Takefusa Kubo, Omari Hutchinson and Tom Fellows are the frontrunners to join the club next.
