Everton will be increasing their bid for Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson after a the Welsh club rejected £40m deal for the signature of the Icelandic playmaker.
However, Everton’s chances of signing the player was buffed significantly after Sigurdsson, 27, returned to Wales after pulling out of Swansea City’s tour of the United States less than an hour before the players were due to leave their hotel in London on Thursday.
The Icelandic international was present in Swansea’s friendly at Barnet, where he wore the captain’s armband in the second half of a 1-0 defeat against the League Two club.
Swansea manager Paul Clement spoke afterwards about Sigurdsson’s situation, explaining how he wanted the player to stay but highlighting how “there’s a business side to football as well”.
Sigurdsson’s decision to opt out of the pre-season tour took Swansea by surprise and has seemingly made the possibility of a move inevitable, with Everton set to press ahead to try to complete a transfer in time for the midfielder to join them in the Netherlands next week.
Nonetheless,the Toffees need to make an improved bid after their initial one in the region of £40m was rejected as it did not meet Swansea’s £50m valuation of the playmaker.
Still, there is a high chance that Everton, who have been tracking Sigurdsson for a long time and they were never going to be discouraged by Swansea’s £50m valuation.
While Everton most definitely believe Sigurdsson is worth that sum — they are fiercely determined to do what it takes to sign a player directly involved in 22 Premier League goals last season — it was believed that they had merely hoped that a deal could be struck for in a bargain price of less than £40m.