Anthony Gordon appeared to wave goodbye to Everton fans after scoring in their 1-1 draw against Brentford on Saturday afternoon.
Gordon is being chased by Chelsea ahead of the summer transfer window closing on Thursday. Everton have already rejected a bid in the region of £45million for the 21-year-old winger, but Mirror Football understands that they are happy to sell, if they can find a replacement.
Chelsea are ready to return with an offer of £50m that could rise to £60m with additional bonus payments. It is within this context that Gordon played for Frank Lampard’s side away at Brentford in Saturday’s 3pm kick-off.
He made an impact in the first half by firing in the opener after 24 minutes. However, his goal wasn’t enough to provide Everton’s first win of the season, with Vitaly Janelt responding from close range from a late corner after the home team had struck the woodwork three times.
After the full-time whistle sounded in west London, Gordon was among the Everton players who went over to clap the away fans. He then took off his shirt and handed it to a fan before waving to the away end in moments which could be construed as a goodbye ahead of a transfer to Chelsea.
It remains to be seen whether the deal goes through, but Everton defender James Tarkowski says the transfer speculation has not distracted Gordon in the slightest. "He has been different class,” he told Sky Sports. “All the paper talk and all the speculation, to be fair he just cracks on. Whatever comes will happen, but I love having him on my team. There is a reason why teams are after him."
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Lampard reiterated his standpoint from Friday that Gordon is not for sale. "A player at his level should react positively and I thought he did that," he said post-match. "It's not happened. Nothing has changed."
In his pre-match press conference, Lampard fired Chelsea a warning over the deal, insisting it still might not happen. “It is absolutely not happening at this point and that is where we are at,” he said on Friday.
“The situation we are in [now is] Anthony is not leaving this club. There absolutely has to come a time where we have to understand what the squad is going to be and especially a player of the level of Anthony, I have to know he is going be here. We are at that situation. We have drawn a red line.
“It is very difficult, I got asked last week, will he be here at the end of the window and it is an impossible question to answer, really."
