Everton enter battle to sign German international
Published:
Everton are facing competition from Crystal Palace in their bid to sign Tottenham’s Lewis Holtby but manager Roberto Martinez is confident of landing his man.
Holtby has fallen down the pecking order at White Hart Lane since arriving from Schalke last year and would jump at the chance of reviving his career at Goodison Park.
The 23-year-old Germany international is a lifelong Everton fan after being introduced to the club by his British father as a youngster.
The Toffees are in the market for midfield reinforcements following Ross Barkley’s untimely injury and while a bid for Morgan Amalfitano was expected Holtby has emerged as a potential replacement for the England man.
Holtby has struggled to hold down a first team place in north London and spent much of last season on loan at Fulham.
Crystal Palace are hoping to play on the London link in a bid to take the midfielder to Selhurst Park but the managerial upheaval faced by the Eagles makes it difficult to envision a deal.
Malkay Mackay is set to be unveiled as the new Eagles manager but Holtby is expected to shun a potential relegation clash in favour of teaming up with Martinez and his Champions League-chasing Toffees.
Despite an opening day draw with newly-promoted Leicester, Everton are among the favourites to gatecrash the top four at 9/1 after performing well in the transfer window so far.
Martinez has secured permanent deals for Romelu Lukaku and Gareth Barry, while adding Muhamed Besic to his midfield.
Contrastingly, Palace have missed out on their main targets and as a result seen manager Tony Pulis walk away just days before the start of the season.
The Eagles are now as short as 2/1 for relegation and while Aston Villa and QPR are also credited with an interest in Holtby it appears Everton are leading the chase by some distance.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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