According to claims from Argentinian newspaper Ole, Everton are interested in signing 20-year-old River Plate midfielder Santiago Sosa in the summer.
The same source claims that Everton have already made contact with Sosa’s agent and the Toffees are set to firm up their interest in the Argentinian starlet.
The 20-year-old has a release clause of £11.5 million in his contract at River Plate, meaning that Everton would be able to secure his services without having to break the bank. Argentinian newspaper Ole understands that work obtaining a work permit for the youngster might be a problem but Everton are reportedly ready to take care of that.
The move, if it materializes, would be Everton’s second raid on River Plate in recent years. The Toffees splashed £9.5 million to sign Rafael Funes Mori back in the summer of 2015 and he went on to have a successful time at Goodison Park, also representing Argentina at the senior level.
And now, Sosa’s arrival at Merseyside this summer is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, with the youngster set to feature for Argentina at the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland over the summer.
Rated highly in the youth ranks at River Plate, Sosa broke into River Plate first-team in the previous campaign and made his senior debut against Racing Club in the Cope Libertadores. The 20-year-old has made a total of 5 appearances for River Plate in all competitions so far, although he already has 9 caps for Argentina at the U20 level.
Essentially a defensive midfielder by trade, Sosa has caught the eye with his calmness and composure in possession, tough-tackling nature, positional sense and high levels of stamina.
An intelligent midfielder with a wonderful technique and good tactical awareness, Sosa not only has the range of passing to dictate the tempo of the game in the midfield but he is equally adept at cutting out attacks, breaking up the play and making key retrievals with crucial tackles and interceptions.
The 20-year-old covers every blade of grass on the pitch and he gets into the right position more often that not to deal with the transitions in play. Sosa is also a good long passer, who has the ability to set up attacks with jaw-dropping cross-field passes from a deep position in the midfield.
Sosa boasts of a pass success rate of 85.3, including 3.8 successful long passes and 2.5 tackles per game for River Plate this season, figures which are a clear testament to his rapid development and all-around abilities as a central defensive midfielder.
To put things into perspective, Everton have invested in South American talents like Richarlison, Bernard and Yerry Mina in presence of Marcel Brands as the director of football and they have reason to look at Santiago Sosa, who is also an incredibly talented midfielder.
It is still unclear whether the Toffees are considering Sosa as a contender for a first-team place next season or a long-term investment to strengthen the youth and reserve sides.
In fact, it can be both, given that Sosa has shown strong signs of excellence very early in his career and Everton have traditionally always favoured youth.
It won’t be a bad idea for manager Marco Silva to groom him for the future by giving him controlled exposure at the highest level, particularly with someone like Idrissa Gana Gueye nearing the 30-year mark and attracting interest from clubs elsewhere.
Andre Gomes’ future at Goodison Park continues to be up in the air and youngster Tom Davies and, possibly Sosa can play a bigger role in the first-team if Everton lose both the aforementioned players.
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An incredibly talented youngster with a potentially high resale value-Santiago Sosa is exactly the kind of player that Everton should be looking at this summer. He has all the attributes to develop into a world-class midfielder and make a big impact in the Premier League in the days to come.