Everton outcast Yannick Bolasie is set to sign imminently for Championship side Middlesbrough.
The Teessiders’ manager Neil Warnock confirmed on Wednesday night that a deal for the DR Congo international was on the verge of being completed.
The move would see the 31-year-old Toffees outcast reunite with the experienced tactician from their time working together in south London at Crystal Palace.
Warnock, in clear admiration for the player, has tried to sign Bolasie over the last two transfer windows but deals collapsed in both periods.
Turkish side Sivasspor had also been showing interest in the ex-Palace trickster but last-minute interventions from Warnock reportedly persuaded the winger to revitalise his interest in moving to the Riverside Stadium.
Warnock left nothing to doubt about the impending transfer as he spoke after his side’s 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Rotherham on Wednesday:
I hope it’ll get done. I spoke to him, and he was going to go to Turkey. But he spoke to me and I said, “Look, just come and enjoy yourself for a couple of months – you can always go to Turkey and places like that later.”
He owes me anyhow because I did well for him at Crystal Palace. He’s looking forward to it, I think, and hopefully everything will be done in the next 24 hours.
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Everton fans may feel a sense of relief at the prospect of an imminent deal for Bolasie being completed. Since moving to Goodison Park, he has only managed four goals in a Toffees shirt and hasn’t even been registered in this season’s Premier League squad.
Offloading the player, who is out of contract in the summer, frees up redundant wages from the Toffees’ books and gives a fresh start to an experienced player in Bolasie.
