Lyon have given Ainsley Maitland-Niles permission to travel to Everton to seal a deadline day move to The Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Journalist Hugo Guillemet, from L’Equipe, reports that the 29-year-old has been authorised to fly to England to finalise his move from Lyon.
He states that the defender is expected to sign with the Toffees today in a ‘dry’ €5m deal. That means there will not be any add-ons included or future sale percentages. Lyon have already signed a replacement in Zachary Akhetam.
The newspaper reports that Maitland-Niles ‘will engage’ with the Toffees this evening and finalise his return to England.
Everton get their right-back
The deal will secure Everton the right-back that they’ve been chasing all summer. The Blues have gone through an exhaustive list of names in that search.
They appeared to have settled on Fulham’s Kenny Tete. But reports in England now state that he has been pushed to one side in favour of the Lyon defender.
Maitland-Niles is actually a long-term target for Everton. They wanted to sign the defender when he was still at Arsenal, but the Gunners blocked that deal at the time.
He eventually joined Lyon on a free transfer in 2023 and has gone on to make 119 appearances for the French club in all competitions.
Lyon need €5m
But Lyon’s need to make sales this summer to help balance their books has seemingly led to them doing a deadline day deal with Everton.
A €5m fee currently represents half of the €10m valuation on Transfermarkt. So it could be argued the Blues are getting a bargain deal.
They have perhaps been aided by the fact that Maitland-Niles’ contract at Lyon expires next summer. That means the Ligue 1 club required to sell this summer rather than lose him on a free transfer.
Lyon have now authorised him to travel to Everton to finalise that move on deadline day.
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