Confirmed: Club president caused £25m deal to collapse to give player to Everton

Lyon caused a rival move to collapse for Everton to sign Orel Mangala on loan on Transfer Deadline Day, Giovanni Bia has confirmed.

The transfer intermediary told TuttoMercatoWeb on 19 September that club president Laurent Prud’homme stepped in to bring the midfielder to Goodison Park despite a deal already being set up with Fiorentina.

The Belgian was due to head to Serie A on a loan-to-buy deal worth up to €30million [£25.2m] but he is now part of Sean Dyche’s squad, where Lyon owner John Textor is trying to take over.

Bia said: “I had set up the deal with [Daniele] Pradè and [Roberto] Goretti and Lyon’s requests had changed, which had opened up to a onerous loan with right of redemption. The president then decided to give him to Everton and everything fell through when it seemed that the deal was with right of redemption.

“The figures for the loan with right were for a total of 25-30 million. He was almost leaving for Florence but then everything fell through”.

John Textor may face new Everton threat from Dan Friedkin

Textor’s influence seemed logical when Everton’s transfer window appeared to be winding down ahead of the deadline only for a pair of players from his French side to suddenly be on the table.

While Mangala joined Ernest Nuamah wasn’t interested [Alan Myers, 31 August] and after snubbing Everton also saw an 11th-hour move to Fulham break down [Sky Sports, 30 August], having reportedly gone AWOL from his medical as he didn’t want to be forced out of Lyon [L’Equipe, 3 September].

Bia’s reveal seems to back up a report from Sky Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio on 29 August which said Mangala’s agents were pushing to get him to Florence, which was followed up by an update that Prud’homme had refused to allow it.

With American Textor trying to buy the Toffees from Farhad Moshiri it is potentially a grey area if has influenced moves in the market, especially as he remains a 45 percent owner of Crystal Palace.

On the face of it any route for a relatively thin Toffees squad to secure reinforcements is a bonus, but the jury is probably still out on how useful the former Nottingham Forest man will be after his early contributions.

And with Dan Friedkin reported to be back on the scene after backing out of his own takeover in July [Bloomberg, 16 September] it may be the Roma chief who ends up in charge rather than his Lyon counterpart.

However, Friedkin insiders have played down claims he has now changed his stance on the deal in a “confusing” update [i News, 17 September].

In other Everton news, a journalist couldn’t believe what he heard at Goodison Park as two figures came in for rough treatment.

For more Everton news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.

The post Confirmed: Club president caused £25m deal to collapse to give player to Everton appeared first on Goodison News.