Everton boss Roberto Martinez faces a fight with Benfica for top striker target Michy Batshuayi.
Standard Liege’s exciting young star Batshuayi is wanted by the Toffees, who will have to pay £7million up front to land him as Nikica Jelavic’s replacement.
But now Portuguese giants Benfica have stepped into the chase. They are looking at Batshuayi as a potential replacement for Rodrigo Moreno, who is a target for Russia’s Zenit St Petersburg.
Standard have already warned off Martinez – although they may sell to Everton in the summer as a compromise.
Moreno, who had an unimpressive loan spell in England with Bolton in 2010-11, could move before the weekend, so Martinez might have to find the cash sharpish to win the race for Batshuayi.
The 20-year-old Belgian has been training on his own this week after Everton’s interest became public and Standard went to war with his agent for revealing his fixed fee.
Written by Steve Milne
