Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall says he loves playing alongside Iliman Ndiaye and has backed the winger to stay at Everton. With Ndiaye having turned down several new contract offers this year and then spoken of his desire to play Champions League football, his future has been subject to intense speculation this summer. However, Everton remain adamant that the 26-year-old is not for sale.
Superb performance against Crystal Palace
The Senegalese showed why the Blues are so determined to keep him with a superb performance in the 2-0 opening day win over Crystal Palace at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday. His fantastic cross allowed Thierno Barry to head home and double the advantage after Dewsbury-Hall had opened the scoring with an unstoppable shot.
Dewsbury-Hall said: “I absolutely love Ili. I could wax lyrical about him for so long. He's one of my favourite footballers and it’s a fantastic cross — he put it on a sixpence for Barry. We know he’s one of the best players in the league when he’s firing.”
Addressing the speculation
Addressing the speculation over Ndiaye’s future, Dewsbury-Hall added: “Of course [you get that]. But when you’re a top player, you’re always going to have people wanting you. But I’m hoping we're trying to build something at this club where we keep all of our best players. In the next couple of years, we want to be in Europe and for that to happen, we need to keep our best players and then also blood younger lads, which we’re trying to do.”
Ndiaye’s father Mouhamadou Abdoulaye Ndiaye insisted “he’s not going anywhere” in late July, and his international team-mate Idrissa Gueye replied “Here to stay” after Everton shared photographs of the player returning to training in Germany.
Moyes: 'He has not got a price'
Speaking in the embargoed section of his pre-match press conference, David Moyes was asked if Ndiaye could go late in the window. The Everton boss said: “No. Unless there’s something absolutely outrageous. The words we say that ‘everyone has a price’ but he has not got a price to me. As far as I’m concerned, as long as I’ve been here, he has never been leaving and I don’t know where the stories have come from.”
