Even bumper £40m bid shouldn’t convince Everton to sell Gueye mid-season

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Everton have told holding midfielder Idrissa Gueye that he will not be sold this month unless a bumper £40m bid comes in, according to the Daily Mirror.

They report that Paris Saint Germain are sniffing around the 29-year-old as they chase a new defensive midfielder to replace the unsettled and departing Adrien Rabiot, but Everton are keen to resist any advances.

That means they have apparently informed the former Aston Villa man that only a huge bid of £40m will be enough to prize him away this month.

And Marco Silva’s reluctance to lose Gueye is well-founded; the 6-2 thrashing at home to Tottenham before Christmas – which the midfielder missed – was testament to how much Everton’s new-look approach relies on him recovering the ball.

£40m is a lot of money for a 29-year-old holding midfielder but it is tough to overstate the importance of Gueye within this setup of Silva’s.

He is the only one who can cover the ground in front of the defence and provide the balance alongside Andre Gomes and replacing him with a player of suitable quality in this window – with January being so notorious for its inflated prices – would be very difficult indeed.

That could well see the season fizzle out, which would be an underwhelming way for the first campaign of what is supposed to be a new era to conclude.