Yankuba Minteh has told Newcastle United that he wants to join Everton.
The Toffees have shown an interest in signing the 19-year-old forward, and have already held talks about bringing him to Goodison Park.
However, it was reported that he was heading towards Lyon after the French club submitted a better offer, thought to be in the region of £40 million, that was accepted for Newcastle.
According to journalist Matt Hughes, Minteh has rejected a move to Lyon in a “dramatic” development as he wants to stay in the Premier League.
The young forward, who impressed heavily last season on loan at Feyenoord, has told Newcastle that instead of joining Lyon, he wants to move to Everton.
Everton have quickly moved on from Minteh and the Toffees are close to completing the £17 million signing of Iliman Ndiaye from Marseille.
Could Everton revive deal for Minteh and Calvert-Lewin?
While Everton fans might view the story with suspicion, Hughes is a very reliable journalist who has worked for top organisations like The Times and the Daily Mail in the past.
What could be interesting is whether Newcastle will come back to Everton to reignite their interest in Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The Magpies pulled out of the race to sign the 27-year-old Everton striker after the Toffees refused to lower their asking price for the player.
With Newcastle now needing to raise around £25 million in player sales this week to stay within the limits of PSR, they might renegotiate a deal with the Toffees for Calvert-Lewin, where Minteh would move the other way.
Newcastle could sell other players like Miguel Almiron or Martin Dubravka but they haven’t received any concrete offers yet for them.
Also, Newcastle’s biggest assets like Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes, and Kieran Trippier are on international duty and they won’t be willing to focus on transfer matters at the moment.
It appears that Minteh wants to join Goodison Park but whether Everton will make an attempt to sign him irrespective of Calvert-Lewin deal remains to be seen.
