London (AFP) – Premier League club Swansea will not let Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson leave for less than £50million ($64m, 56.4m euros) the BBC reported on Monday.
The 27-year-old playmaker — who was pivotal to the ‘Swans’ staying up last season scoring nine goals and creating 13 others — was subject of a £40m bid from 2016 champions Leicester which was turned down.
Everton are thought the most likely to match the asking price as their manager Ronald Koeman is a known admirer of Sigurdsson.
Sigurdsson — whose contract runs to 2020 — has been at Swansea on a permanent basis since 2014 after a disappointing two year spell at Tottenham, who had bought him from German outfit Hoffenheim for nearly £9m.
Despite Koeman spending a lot of money already in the close season the £75million due from the transfer of Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United should give him sufficient funds.
Koeman re-signed England’s record goalscorer Wayne Rooney from Manchester United on Sunday and spent a potential £30m each on centre-back Michael Keane from Burnley and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford from relegated Sunderland.
Pickford’s fee made him Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper and the third most expensive in the world behind Manchester City’s 40 million euros signing of Benfica goalkeeper Ederson and Gianluigi Buffon’s 53 million euros switch from Parma to Juventus in 2001.
They have also signed Dutch midfielder Davy Klaassen from beaten Europa League finalists Ajax for £23.6m and striker Sandro Ramirez for £5.2m.
