Lascelles being targeted in a £30 million bid move to Everton

It is no surprise that Jamaal Lascelles is being targeted this offseason after stellar play in the back for the Toon. The most intriguing rumor to arise is that the Captain is supposedly attracting a £30 million bid from Everton boss Marco Silva. Silva, in his first offseason as Everton’s manager, has Lascelles at the top of his list of the Summer Transfer Window targets and is ready to pay big bucks for the center back. With Benitez still contract-less with Newcastle, this story is very intriguing.

Everton hosts one of the oldest and most experienced defensive groups with Ashley Williams, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, and Seamus Coleman. All of whom are either in their 30s or quickly approaching the 3 decade milestone, so inserting a young, dominant defenseman could be exactly what the Toffees need.

A move to Everton just seems very unlikely. In general, for Lascelles to be moved to any other Premier League club this summer a steep price will have to be paid. Benitez recognizes the rarity of such a player like Lascelles saying, “It is not easy to find good center backs who can play well in the Premier League, especially not English ones, and it’s even harder to find young ones.” This is certainly true as players such as Aymeric Laporte and Virgil van Dijk were sold to Premier League sides at such a high price.

So what does Lascelles think? Well, from quotes from a month ago regarding his future with the club, the captain said, “I’m very happy here. You hear things, you hear rumors and stuff, but I’m a young player and I need to be playing football at a good club - and that’s what this is.” Who could blame him? This is the place to play, under one of the best in Rafa Benitez.

This will not be the last rumor regarding Jamaal Lascelle’s future with the Magpies, but I am quite confident he will be playing at St. James’ come August.