Martinez hopeful over Traore deal

Roberto Martinez is hopeful that Everton will still sign Lacina Traore despite reports that Monaco could pull the plug on the deal.

The Merseyside club were granted a work permit for the Ivory Coast international on Tuesday ahead of a proposed loan move for the rest of the season.

However, Monaco’s record signing Radamel Falcao sustained what could be a serious knee injury on Wednesday, and reports on Thursday claimed the Ligue 1 club could decide to keep Traore if the Colombian is ruled out for a significant amount of time.

Martinez expects Everton to find out on Thursday if the deal will go through and is optimistic an agreement can be reached with the wealthy French club.

“We’re still working on it, there is nothing to announce as yet. The work permit was successful, there a few other issues to get through but there is nothing to announce,” he said.

When asked if Falcao’s injury could scupper the deal, the Spaniard added: “We hope that’s not something that should affect the decision to allow Lacina to go out on loan.

“At the moment the deal is not complete, so it’s difficult for me to comment but it’s something we should find out quite quickly in the next few hours.”

If Martinez does get his man, the former Wigan Athletic boss expects the signing of Traore to be his last before the transfer window shuts next week.

He said: “That will probably be it, the main two targets was a striker and Aiden McGeady (who signed from Spartak Moscow on January 11) .”

Martinez also revealed that Everton remain confident that England international left-back Leighton Baines will sign a new contract.