List of elite European clubs trailing Everton star grows

While confidence that John Stones will remain an Everton player continues to grow on Merseyside, it seems the club will have a new battle on their hands to keep a different defender this summer.

As the deadline on this summer’s transfer window looms large, Seamus Coleman is being linked increasingly regularly to a move away from the Toffees.

At first the chatter about the marauding right-back leaving for a bigger club was quiet, with a smattering of reports suggesting Champions League powerhouses Paris Saint-Germain were interested in the player.

Now though, those links are growing stronger, with some publications suggesting that German gargantuan Bayern Munich have joined the trail for the Irish international.

With Roberto Martinez staunch in his resistance of Chelsea’s advances for Stones this summer, it would be a major surprise if the Spaniard were to relinquish another key cog to his backline for 2015/16.

The Bundesliga club are thought to be willing to offer £18m for Coleman, but it is very hard to see Everton accepting such a little recompense for a player that has developed into arguably the best right back in the Premier League in recent years.

Along with Stones and Leighton Baines, Martinez has a talented and experienced core to his back four and is understandably adamant about keeping them together.

It hasn’t been the most fluent starts to the season for the Toffees, with the 0-0 draw played at Tottenham last time out leaving the blue half of Merseyside with just one win from the opening four league games this term.

Martinez will no doubt point to the circus surrounding Stones as a key reason for that and will be counting down the hours until the transfer window shuts, so normal service can resume.

After the slow start, Ladbrokes make Everton 28/1 to finish in the top four this term.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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