Deportivo keen on Deulofeu to replace Turkey-bound Babel

Babel moving on

Deportivo's technical department have the difficult mission of trying to fill the gap which Ryan Babel will leave when he completes his move to Beşiktaş next month. Babel is set to move on after three months in A Coruña during which time he has converted himself into one of key cogs in Gaizka Garitano's side. Depor are eager to replace Babel with a player who can match his performance levels and number one on their hit list is Everton's Gerard Deulofeu, according to El País.

Deulofeu was released by Barça to move to Goodison permanently last season, and became an instant hit with the fans although this season, under Ronald Koeman, his participation has dwindled. In terms of playing time, he hasn't even clocked 500 minutes of first team action in the league - his last game was in the 3-2 defeat to Watford on 10 December.

Ideally, Depor would like to take the former Spain Under-21s captain on a six-month loan deal but under the circumstances, that seems highly unlikely - firstly, for the player's high wage demands and secondly, because even if Everton decide to let him go, there are other clubs who have their cheque books ready - such as Olympique Marseille where Andoni Zubizarreta, who knows Deulofeu well, is Director of Sport.