By Declan Walsh
Al-Ettifaq have turned their attention towards signing Everton winger Demarai Gray after they failed in talks for Aston Villa’s Philippe Coutinho, according to Sports Zone.
The French news outlet reported via their Twitter account on Sunday (3 September) that Steven Gerrard has Gray, 27, in his sights before the Saudi Arabian transfer window closes on Thursday (7 September).
It is understood that talks for Gerrard to sign former Liverpool teammate Coutinho proved “fruitless”.
⚡️FLASH ZONE ⚽️
Annoncé proche d’Al-Shabab, Demarai Gray est dans le viseur d’Al-Ettifaq et de Steven Gerrard pour renforcer le côté gauche de l’attaque. 🟢🔴
▫️Les discussions avec Philippe Coutinho sont infructueuses depuis le début de l’été et l’option Gray émerge. ⏳ pic.twitter.com/3nfdundzTx
Saudi newspaper Al-Awsat reports that Gray has already passed a medical to join Al-Ettifaq, who have signed Jack Hendry, Moussa Dembele, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum this summer.
Disgusting
Gray is to become the latest player to join the biggest sportwashing project the world has ever seen.
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We’re bound to see a lot of players leave Europe’s big leagues for the Saudi Pro League in the coming days due to their transfer window closing on 7 September.
Gray isn’t one of the biggest names but the fact he’s decided to leave the Premier League to join a club in Saudi Arabia is massively disappointing.
He’s also going there to play for Gerrard. Ugh.
Sean Dyche doesn’t seem to have been a fan of Gray in his time at Goodison Park.
He didn’t play much in the second half of the season but when he did play, he was mainly stuck up front because of the injury crisis we had at Goodison Park.
We hope Dyche didn’t have his judgement of Gray clouded by the poor performances in a position he’s not suited to playing in because we feel as though he could have been a useful played if he stayed put on Merseyside.
In other Everton news, Gary Lineker noticed something “unusual” about Jordan Pickford in the draw at Sheffield United.