Season › 2024-25 › News The Rumour Mill Everton enquire about Assane Diao and Takefusa Kubo Anjishnu Roy | 30/07/2025 16comments | Jump to last Everton’s management have made enquiries for wingers Assane Diao and Takefusa Kubo according to transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano. Posting on Twitter (now called X), Romano also revealed that the club is still awaiting a final decision from Olympique Lyon’s Malick Fofana. The Toffees have been in contact with Fofana’s camp and despite getting their first bid of £31.5 million rejected by the French club, are close to meeting their valuation of the player. However, the Belgian is still looking for clubs that can offer him European football, especially the Champions League, which is stalling the deal at the moment. As the situation continues to evolve, the Blues have also decided to approach Serie A side Como for Assane Diao and La Liga’s Real Sociedad for Takefusa Kubo. Diao only joined Como from Spanish outfit Real Betis in January for a deal worth around £10 million. He was instrumental for Cesc Fabregas’ side in the second half of the season and scored eight goals in only 15 Serie A appearances. He is capable of playing on both wings and has been capped twice by Senegal. The presence of Senegalese stars Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gana Gueye could be convincing for Diao. The Blues have followed the winger closely since last summer when he was still at Real Betis. Como, however, are expected to value their player strongly. According to journalist Nicolo Schira, the Italian side has already turned down a £39 million offer from Nottingham Forest for the player during this transfer window. Kubo has also been on the Toffees’ radar for a while now. The Japan international, who played for both Barcelona and Real Madrid’s youth academies, has 41 goal contributions for Real Sociedad in 137 appearances. Reader Comments (16) 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 () Paul Hewitt 1 Posted 30/07/2025 at 12:28:35 Enquires? Just sign some bloody players. Jack Convery 2 Posted 30/07/2025 at 12:46:24 We've made an offer for Shearer but unfortunately, he's already signed for Newcastle. Eric Myles 3 Posted 30/07/2025 at 12:48:07 If they bought him for £10M and are looking for 4X profit on that then move on. Plus he'll be missing for Afcon, just when we need more players, not less. Jon Atkinson 4 Posted 30/07/2025 at 12:48:17 £39M knocked back. I think we can discount that one! John Graham 5 Posted 30/07/2025 at 14:17:16 If they can get a player for 10 million and are now looking for a massive profit then it shows that there are still some out there. It just needs good scouting and maybe taking a bit of a chance that they can do it in the Premier. Lots of young, hungry, skillful players out there who are looking for a chance in the Premier. Eric Myles 6 Posted 30/07/2025 at 15:34:42 John #5, but is he worth £40 million? Or even the £10 million they paid for him?Why are they looking to get rid of him after 6 months? If he's tore the league up and scored a shedload of goals (he hasn't) then hang onto him and sell for even more at the end of next season when he's done it again.Or there's something not quite right about him and they're trying to fleece the market? Jay Harris 7 Posted 30/07/2025 at 15:49:31 Go balls out for kubo, pace, aggression, scores and creates goals and defends too.Him and Maitland Niles can do a job on the right flank and can cover other positions too. Kieran Kinsella 8 Posted 30/07/2025 at 15:51:26 So if we bring Diao to join his Senegalese team mates, then come December the three of them will be off to the African Nations Cup along with the Moroccan player we signed yesterday? So we'd be even worse off for player numbers in a few months than we are now? Ryan Holroyd 9 Posted 30/07/2025 at 15:54:59 Sociedad want 60m for Kubo. I can’t see us signing him Frank Crewe 10 Posted 30/07/2025 at 16:03:06 I swear there are people posting here who look for excuses NOT to buy a player. Too cheap/expensive. Too young/old. His club were relegated. He's a "cast off". No PL experience. Only after a big salary. Etc etc. Negativity can become a habit and after recent seasons it's no wonder. But we must remain positive. Every player will have their pros and cons. It is up to Moyes, his staff the DoF to decide if the pros outweigh the cons. I think we have to accept that they know more about players abilities than we do because it is their living. So maybe we should just let them get on with it and hope that they are right more than they are wrong. Eddie Palin 11 Posted 30/07/2025 at 20:58:09 Do we actually have a scouting system? It seems to me we only ever go for players who have been scouted by others. Rob Halligan 12 Posted 30/07/2025 at 21:03:20 Eddie, who scouted Thierno Barry and Adam Aznou before us? Sam Hoare 13 Posted 30/07/2025 at 21:11:30 Surely we have to get these players just before the rest of Europe has clocked on to their talent?!Como this summer bought pacy winger Rodriguez from Betis for £20M and playmaker Baturina from Zagreb for £16M plus talented young speedster Addis from Alkmaar for £12M. All very decent players who could have added something to our squad. Ian Bennett 14 Posted 30/07/2025 at 21:19:55 Missed Gnoto off that list Sam... Danny O'Neill 15 Posted 30/07/2025 at 21:20:24 Eddie, as Rob says, the scouting system is there. As well as the ones Rob mentions, we could highlight several first team regulars recruited over the past couple of seasons.The reality is, once a player becomes available, the agents will be putting them out there and we will be in the mix with other clubs. Jim Bennings 16 Posted 31/07/2025 at 05:46:38 We should have been all over Kubo this summer.The Friedkin Group has so far underwhelming me. 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