Season › 2024-25 › News The Rumour Mill Everton eye move for Clarets’ centre-back Maxime Esteve Harry Diamond | 04/06/2025 15comments | Jump to last David Moyes has picked out some gems from the Football League during his time at Everton and his recruitment team were seen regularly as second-tier games last season. One player the Blues have watched regularly is Burnley centre-back Maxime Esteve as reported by Patrick Boyland of The Athletic. After a difficult first season with Burnley as the Clarets were relegated from the Premier League in 2023/24, Esteve bounced back as part of the club’s promotion-winning side. The 23-year-old starred alongside CJ Egan-Riley as Scott Parker’s side conceded just 16 goals in 46 league games. With Egan-Riley expected to leave on a free transfer for Strasbourg and interest in goalkeeper James Trafford, Esteve’s exit would be a huge blow. Esteve was named in the EFL Championship Team of the Season and has attracted interest from Everton, Crystal Palace and clubs on the continent. Bayern Munich have been named as suitors with Vincent Kompany considering a reunion with his former player. Burnley have no intention to sell Esteve after promotion but could find it hard to hold onto the Frenchman given the interest in his services. Central defence is an area Everton want to strengthen with Michael Keane’s contract due to expire later this month. Reader Comments (15) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Neil Thomas 1 Posted 04/06/2025 at 13:07:15 Yes, buy him. Big strong lad with plenty of pace, and can read play well. This is the sort of player we should be looking for. Especially if we’re going to lose Braithwaite Ian Wilkins 2 Posted 04/06/2025 at 13:08:17 This guy is quality, but only reason we’d buy him is if Branthwaite left. Not a priority position otherwise. Try full back, wide men, forward, centre midfield. Christy Ring 3 Posted 04/06/2025 at 13:16:49 Some of these rumours are actually laughable in my opinion, and who's Harry Diamond? Burnley have just been promoted and will be looking to strengthen in the Premiership, Parker won't be selling one of his prize assets. Rob Halligan 4 Posted 04/06/2025 at 13:38:08 Christy, you beat me to it…….Who is Harry Diamond? Is he a new editor, or just TW’s new correspondent on all things relating to transfers? Alan J Thompson 5 Posted 04/06/2025 at 13:51:26 Or is it "Diamond" Harry with connections to one of our former managers and our present managers former club? Si Cooper 6 Posted 04/06/2025 at 13:53:19 Christy and Rob, I’d be surprised if Harry was aware of TW considering he referred to Chelsea as ‘the Blues’ in the ‘Branthwaite going soon?’ OP. Christy Ring 7 Posted 04/06/2025 at 14:56:43 Rob and Si, I knew the name was familiar, he must do journalism in his spare time, he’s Rory Mcilroy’s caddie!! Robert Tressell 8 Posted 04/06/2025 at 14:57:06 Buying from any of the promoted clubs will be disproportionately expensive - unless buy out clause. The time to buy was when he was performing very strongly at Montpellier. There are always options out there. There’s a very classy Branthwaite like player in Poland Ziolkowski who is getting hawked around for a move. These are the sorts of players who will help us build up a high quality squad while budgets remain tight John Chambers 9 Posted 04/06/2025 at 15:33:49 Right sort of profile, young but reasonably experienced. Opportunity to do a deal with Keane going the other way? Robert Tressell 10 Posted 04/06/2025 at 15:48:55 Esteve might cost £25m or more - 18 months after joining Burnley for €12m. If Branthwaite does go it might happen - or possibly fellow big left footer Callum Doyle of City - who has been performing at least as well as Esteve on a series of loans, latterly for Norwich. Also England u21s. Mal van Schaick 11 Posted 04/06/2025 at 16:56:56 Yes. Good move. Good player and double deal with Brownhill coming as well. Mal van Schaick 12 Posted 04/06/2025 at 16:57:44 Ps. Swap deal with Keane. Mike Allison 13 Posted 04/06/2025 at 17:28:35 Esteve is quality. If we did lose Branthwaite, this is the replacement. He's dominant, good on the ball and was far and away the leader of the best defence in England (in some ways, in history!) this season.If we sold Branthwaite for £80M and bought Esteve for £30M, we'd have done some decent business.The cynic in me says to wait a year for Burnley to get relegated and pick him up then. Robert Tressell 14 Posted 04/06/2025 at 17:35:57 Mike # 30, it would not be popular but that may be the best / quickest way for us to build up a genuinely competitive squad. £80M may be stretch though. I don't think there was a single transfer of that size last season. Gavin Johnson 15 Posted 04/06/2025 at 17:39:16 Good business if we sell Branthwaite for £80M and buy this lad for £30M. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb