Catalan superclub Barcelona have written a check reportedly worth £10-million to Premier League side Everton in order to be reunited with their former star, intelligent winger and Spanish international Gerard Deulofeu.
The deal was announced as official on Friday, July 14th, on the club’s Twitter page, with Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu pictured with Deulofeu in the club’s offices completing the deal.
The purchase marks Deulofeu’s return to Barcelona after a two-year disappearance when the Blaugrana sold the 23-year-old wide man to Everton back in the summer of 2015. The fee the Toffees paid for Deulofeu was reported to be around £4-million.
Crunching the numbers, it means Everton have more than doubled their investment when Barcelona triggered the buy-back clause in Deulofeu’s contract.
This move might seem outrageous for some of Barcelona’s fanbase, as Deulofeu has not really been a stellar player last season. While he does display remarkable speed and work rate, his performances have rarely been consistently good, so much so that Everton loaned him out to AC Milan in January.
He did well with the Rossoneri in his brief stay at the San Siro, scoring four goals and tallying another three assists in a span of 17 league games for the club. But prior to that, Deulofeu has been impotent on the pitch for the Toffees, who hasn’t scored a single goal or assist in his 11 Premier League appearances last season.
Whether or not Barcelona have made the right decision when it comes to this transfer remain to be seen, but clearly the Catalan giants have seen something in their former star that made them dole out the cash.
Indeed, Deulofeu has the potential to be the next big Spanish international, meeting the calibre of the likes of Pedro, but whether the young footballer from Riudarenes can achieve that potential is still up for debate. Barcelona, for their part, will definitely want their gamble to pay off sooner rather than later.