Everton and Watford lining up summer move for Le Havre’s Ferland Mendy

Premier League duo Everton and Watford are part of a Europe-wide chase for Le Havre starlet Ferland Mendy, according to L’Equipe (via Sport Witness).

The 21-year-old defender enjoyed a decent season at the Ligue 2 outfit, starting 34 of their 38 league games and netting twice to help the club to an eighth place finish in the division.

And with Le Havre conceding just 31 times in the league this term, the least of any side in Ligue 2, Mendy clearly played a key role in their excellent defensive record, and has thus attracted much interest from around Europe.

French outfits Bordeaux, Lille, and Marseille are reported to be interested in the defender, as are Ronald Koeman’s Everton and Marco Silva’s Watford.

The Toffees will be looking at how they can narrow the gap between themselves and the top six, and given they conceded the joint-highest amount of goals of the sides in the top seven this term, the defensive ranks are clearly an area boss Koeman will want to strengthen.

And new Hornets boss Silva will also be on the lookout for reinforcements after the Hertfordshire-based side finished 17th in the Premier League this season, and their tally of 68 goals against, only Hull and Sunderland conceded more, demonstrates their need to bolster at the back.

Any deal could be problematic, given that Mendy recently changed agents although his initial agent Laurent Menestrier still believes he is under his control, yet with just a year left on his current deal at Le Havre, the French could may need to sell him this summer or else risk losing a prized asset on a free next time round.

And with a reported asking price of €5 million, both Everton and Watford may fell there’s little to lose by snapping up Mendy this summer.