Watford reject opening Everton bid for Abdoulaye Doucoure as club hold out for £25m fee

Watford midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure is a long-term transfer target for Everton
Getty Images

Everton have failed with an opening offer for Watford midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure.

The Toffees have a long-standing interest in the Frenchman, who is expected to leave Vicarage Road this summer after Watford were relegated to the Championship.

Everton have now made an opening offer for Doucoure, but Standard Sport understands it has been rejected as it falls short of Watford's valuation.

The Hornets are ready to let the 27-year-old go, but are holding out for an initial fee of around £25million.

Everton are expected to return with a new bid for Doucoure as manager Carlo Ancelotti is keen to add him to his squad.

Personal terms are not expected to be an issue either, with Doucoure ready to move to Goodison Park.

Doucoure has also attracted interest from clubs in his native France, but it is understood his current desire would be to carry on playing in the Premier League.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in