Everton’s hopes of landing Gylfi Sigurdsson are reportedly in jeopardy.
Negotiations with Swansea City for one of Ronald Koeman’s primary targets appeared to have been progressing last week but have hit an apparent impasse.
Sigurdsson had informed the Welsh club of his plans to pursue a career elsewhere, with the Blues in the box seat to land the influential midfielder.
Swansea set a £50 million valuation for the Iceland international but the Daily Telegraph claim that Everton attempted to renegotiate the transfer’s details.
Koeman is understood to have become frustrated with the Goodison Park hierarchy’s refusal to meet the Swans’ demands for Sigurdsson.
The 27-year-old was expected to finalise a move to Merseyside this week but the terms of the deal appear to have hindered Koeman’s plans to rebuild his squad.
It has been claimed that a £45m up-front deal was agreed upon between Swansea and Everton before the latter attempted to restructure the terms.
Paul Clement had hoped that Sigurdsson’s future would have been resolved before his side’s Premier League opener with Southampton this weekend.
But the prolonged negotiations may now force Swansea to walk away from talks.
Koeman, meanwhile, has turned his attention to Thomas Vermaelen as Everton’s potential replacement for Ramiro Funes Mori.
The former Arsenal defender has failed to make the grade during three years with Barcelona and spent last season on loan with Roma.
Koeman worked with the Belgium international during his time in charge at Ajax and has identifed him after Funes Mori was ruled out for up to nine months.
Funes Mori suffered a knee ligament injury in March while representing Argentina and underwent surgery on the problem towards the end of last month.