Everton ‘close to loan deal’ for Bayern Munich star Joshua Zirkzee in surprise transfer

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Everton are closing in on a loan deal to sign Bayern Munich forward Joshua Zirkzee on loan, according to reports. The Dutchman looked set to join Eintracht Frankfurt earlier in the window but the move collapsed following his red card for Bayern’s reserve in the Munich derby, which resulted in a three-match ban.

Eintracht have now moved to re-sign Luka Jovic on loan from Real Madrid, just a year on from his £53million move from the Bundesliga.

Everton Director of Football Marcel Brands said yesterday that the club would not bring in any new faces this month.

However, less than 24 hours later talkSPORT claim that a loan deal for Zirkzee is close.

The move will also reportedly include a view to make the transfer permanent at the end of the season, should the deal be completed.

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“We are still working to offload some players for new challenges in their careers,” Brands said at Everton’s general meeting on Thursday. “We don’t expect to sign new players in this window.

“In the current squad we have a good balance of experienced players, young players, and also players with homegrown status.

“The average age squad age is just above 26 years old. This is a big difference with the squad of two seasons ago where the average age was a lot higher.”

Brands is highly respected in his homeland following previous stints upstairs at PSV Eindhoven and AZ Alkmaar and Zirkzee is regarded as one of the brightest young prospects within the Netherlands’ ranks.

He joined Bayern Munich from Feyenoord in 2017 and has already made 12 Bundesliga appearances for the Bavarians, netting four times.

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The 19-year-old didn’t take long to make an impact on his debut, netting a 90th-minute winner against Freiburg last season, immediately after coming off the bench.

Two days later, the feat was repeated against Wolfsburg and after the restart, he also found the target in a 2-1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach.

Zirkzee played his part in a memorable and historic treble under Hansi Flick last term but now he is looking for regular minutes.

With Robert Lewandowski in sensational form and the height of his career, Zirkzee is well aware he may have to go elsewhere to continue his development.

A move to another Bundesliga outfit is deemed to be Bayern’s preference but the chance to work with their former manager Carlo Ancelotti at Everton may be about to materialise.

Everton are keen to offload Cenk Tosun this month but they are struggling to find buyers for their £27million flop.

Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain are keen to make Moise Kean’s loan deal permanent following his impressive stint in France and Ancelotti has revealed the club would be open to a sale if the player wants to move on.

“He is having a really good experience at Paris Saint-Germain,” the Everton boss told Sky Sports News. “He is scoring a lot of goals, he shows his quality. He is our player and he will be back in June.

“All the time we have to take into consideration what the player thinks because the players are human. If the player wants to come back we will be happy to have him, if the player wants to stay with Paris Saint-Germain, we have to talk with Paris Saint-Germain.

“Whatever the player likes, I don’t want a player back who is not happy to come [back]. If the player is happy to come, he is welcome back.”

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