Everton Opinion: Toffees should go all out to sign Joao Mario in the summer
According to claims from Italian news outlet Tuttomercatoweb, Everton and AS Monaco are interested in signing Portuguese international midfielder Joao Mario from Inter Milan this summer.
The same source claims that Inter value the 26-year-old Euro 2016 winner at €16 million and Everton have monitored him closely throughout the season.
Mario, though, is no stranger to the Premier League, having spent time on loan at West Ham in the second half of the last season. He scored twice and assisted once from 13 appearances in the Premier League for the Hammers and earned plenty of plaudits for his work rate and creativity at the London Stadium.
However, the Portuguese maestro opted against making his stay at east London permanent due to lack of enthusiasm amongst the fans, the Tuttomercatoweb understands.
A youth product of Sporting Lison, Mario rose to prominence with his boyhood club and made a total of 93 appearances for the Portuguese giants in all competitions before completing a move to the Serie A with Inter Milan in the summer of 2016.
He was one of the standout performers for the Nerrazzuri in his inaugural season at San Siro but the arrival of Luciano Spalletti resulted in his slip down the pecking order.
Mario has started on only 12 occasions for Inter in the Serie A this season while making 8 substitute appearances, and a player of his calibre is unlikely to stick around for much longer with so little first-team involvement. However, he is still contracted to Inter until the summer of 2021 and they are not going to let him leave on the cheap.
To put things into perspective, Everton have a golden opportunity on their hands, with Inter likely to cash in on their out-of-favour star and the Toffees would do themselves a world of good by striking a deal for the Portuguese international this summer.
Mario has an impressive profile for a central midfielder and he perfectly fits the bill at Goodison Park.
Everton have enjoyed a consistent run of form late in the season after going through plenty of highs and lows earlier in the campaign. The Toffees have managed to string together some impressive victories against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Man United but manager Marco Silva should be well aware of the weaknesses in his ranks.
While a prolific centre-forward should be high on the manager’s wishlist for the summer, Everton also need to bolster their central midfield options.
The Toffees will need to brace themselves for offers for star midfielder Idrissa Gana Gueye, who has arguably been one of their standout performers in the ongoing campaign.
Gueye’s potential departure in the summer would leave a huge void in the central midfield and it is still not clear whether Everton will be able to sign Barcelona loanee Andre Gomes permanently at the end of the season.
They have Tom Davies and Morgan Schneiderlin in their ranks but neither of them has been particularly impressive.
If Everton lose the services of either of their regular central midfielders, Joao Mario would be an excellent alternative at quite a reasonable price.
A technically-gifted and tactically versatile midfielder, who is capable of switching between holding, box-to-box and attacking roles in the middle of the park, the 26-year-old is noted for his composure in possession, wide range of passing and impressive distribution skills.
A hardworking and tenacious midfielder with plenty of drive, determination and quality on the ball, Mario not only has the ability to cover a lot of ground and break up the play but he also contributes a lot to the build-up play with his vision and footballing intelligence. To add to that, he often makes late runs into the box to chip in with valuable goals and assists.
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Everton should look to bring in quality players if they are really serious about closing the gap on the top-six and mounting a strong challenge for a European spot in the Premier League.
Joao Mario can be a very useful player at Goodison Park and it should be a no-brainer for the Toffees to go all out in their pursuit of the Portuguese international.
