Exclusive: Midfielder responds to Everton hijack as deal 'very close'

Jens Cajuste is set to snub a move to Everton despite a late attempt at hijacking his move to Ipswich Town, sources have told Football Insider.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, senior correspondent Pete O’Rourke revealed that the midfielder’s move to Portman Road is now “very close” as the Tractor Boys close in on another summer signing.

Cajuste is set to undergo a medical at Ipswich and complete the transfer.

After a move to Brentford broke down in the final stages, Ipswich swooped ahead of their competition to land a deal for the Napoli man.

The recruitment team at Goodison Park have now been forced to consider new options before 31 August, and are scouring the market for loan deals.

Sean Dyche’s side have been targeting a new midfielder after Amadou Onana made the £50million move to Aston Villa earlier this summer.

Everton search for midfielder loan deal after Amadou Onana exit

Losing their star midfielder in Onana to help balance the books came as a huge blow to Dyche’s team and their ambitions for the coming season.

Receiving £50million from his sale allowed Everton to enter the transfer market to strengthen their squad, but have been forced to do so within limits due to the threat of PSR.

The Toffees have already completed deals to sign Jake O’Brien, Iliman Ndiaye, Tim Iroegbunam and Jesper Lindstrom this summer, but feel they still need another new midfielder.

Iroegbunam has impressed in pre-season since his arrival from Aston Villa, but is unlikely to be trusted to start every game in the Premier League.

As a result, a move to sign a new midfielder on loan has become a priority.

Cajuste’s availability put the Everton recruitment team on alert, but Ipswich were able to move quickly to convince him to make the move to Suffolk rather than Merseyside.

The 25-year-old featured 35 times across all competitions for Napoli last season in an underwhelming year which saw the 2022-23 champions finish tenth.

In other news, Man United will re-open talks to sign Jarrad Branthwaite.

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The post Exclusive: Midfielder responds to Everton hijack as deal 'very close' appeared first on Football Insider.