Eighty million quid for Iliman Ndiaye. Everton, a club that spent last season one bad result away from a relegation scrap, are quoting Premier League heavyweights a figure that would make most chairmen spill their tea. And honestly? Fair play to them.

Manchester City want Ndiaye. The Senegal international — 44 caps, contracted at Goodison until 2029, arrived from Marseille in July 2024 — has caught Enzo Maresca's eye as City scramble to fill the attacking void left by Sávio's £75m exit to Tottenham. With Omar Marmoush also heading to Spurs on a season-long loan, City's forward line is looking threadbare. Ndiaye is the name they've landed on.

Whether they'll pay £80m for him is a very different question.

City's Attack Is Being Stripped Bare

This window has not been kind to Maresca. His squad has haemorrhaged leaders and creators all summer — Bernardo Silva, Rodri, John Stones, Nathan Aké all gone — and now his attacking options are being reshuffled at the last minute. He's already signed Palmeiras winger Allan Elias in a €37.5m (£34m) deal, and he's keeping tabs on Liverpool's Cody Gakpo. But those feel like stopgaps, not solutions.

Ndiaye would be a genuine statement signing. The problem is Everton know it, and they're pricing accordingly.

Maresca's also admitted he wants to bring in "one or two captains" before Tuesday's deadline closes. He's nominated Rúben Dias and Erling Haaland as the current armband holders, but with so much experience walked out the door, he's identified Chelsea's Enzo Fernández — a man who's captained the Blues — as a target. [City have needed a proper midfield identity since Rodri went down](/getohedz/football/ayyoub-bouaddi-maths-student-chess-fan-and-manchester-citys-new), and Fernández ticks the leadership box Maresca is desperately trying to fill. Chelsea's 14 August deadline for a bid came and went without one landing, but City are expected to move regardless.

The Grealish subplot is worth noting too. Everton — yes, the same Everton holding out for £80m for Ndiaye — are reportedly keen to bring Jack Grealish back, having had him on loan last season. Grealish, in the final year of his contract and also on Sunderland's radar, looks set to leave City. Maresca was as diplomatic as a man can be when pressed on it: "Jack is here until the day that he's not here." That's not a ringing endorsement of anyone staying put.

Our Take

City are in a bind of their own making, and Everton are exploiting it perfectly. You don't quote £80m unless you're confident the buyer is desperate — or unless you genuinely don't want to sell. Either reading is plausible here.

Ndiaye is a good player. But £80m, in the final days of a window, for a club that needs bodies quickly? Everton have played this hand well. Whether City blink is the only question left. [With Chelsea's own summer throwing up its own complications](/getohedz/football/chelsea-in-talks-with-martnezs-camp-as-aston-villa-close), Maresca will know resources aren't infinite and decisions need making fast.

The window shuts Tuesday night. City have a lot of plates still spinning.