Here are your Everton morning headlines for May 13.
Wilmar Barrios reveals he was in the running to sign for Everton last summer
Zenit Saint Petersburg midfielder Wilmar Barrios has said he was targeted by Everton to replace Idrissa Gueye when the Senegal international was subject to a bid from Paris Saint-Germain in 2018, per ESPN ( via Sport Witness ).
Gueye stayed at Everton for another 12 months, and ultimately the Toffees paid £22m to secure the services of Jean-Philippe Gbamin to play in defensive midfield when Gueye eventually left.
But it appears Barrios, who joined Zenit from Boca Juniors in January last year, had expected a move to the Premier League in 2018.
“The idea was Everton, there had been talk. At Everton they had to sell the defensive midfielder, who was expected to go to PSG and he eventually left [in the summer of 2019],” he said.
Independent Premier League survey shows Everton are one of the best
The Premier League Fans’ Survey has revealed Everton’s matchday staff outperform most of the top-flight clubs in categories such as stewarding, catering, community engagement, and fan approval.
The board’s 92% approval shows supporters are behind their vision for the club, while Everton were above the league average on the majority of the 26 categories.
Other notable figures include club community engagement at 97% approval, and 84% approval of the club’s long-term ambition.
“The club’s commitment to keeping an open dialogue with us as a Forum, other supporters’ groups and the wider fanbase really comes through in the impressive results on communications and engagement,” said Jazz Bal, chair of the Everton Fans' Forum .
“The results show that Everton is one of the leading Premier League clubs when it comes to the needs of supporters.”
Schalke 04 appeal for Everton fans’ support with “no-brainer” comment
The Bundesliga gets back underway this weekend and Schalke 04’s media team have taken to Twitter in an attempt to convince Premier League fans to support them.
They tweeted a reason for all 20 teams, and when they reached Everton, Schalke claimed it was a “no-brainer” to root for them given Jonjoe Kenny is at the club on loan.
Schalke also admitted they “may not like” Jurgen Klopp when tweeting their appeal to Liverpool supporters.
Everton fans are unlikely to be convinced given Schalke have attempted to woo everyone in England, including arch rivals Liverpool, although there is some symmetry in Schalke’s relationship with rivals Borussia Dortmund, Klopp’s former club.
After all, as Schalke said in their tweet to Manchester United fans: “You’ll Never Walk Alone is banned here.”
