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Everton are looking to rev up their midfield engine with a Honda – Keisuke Honda of Milan – who is eyeing a move away from the Italian giants.

Calciomercato say that despite featuring in 29 games last season, the Japanese international is unhappy and has been left out of their recent friendly matches.

The 29-year-old’s representatives have met with Milan chiefs to discuss the player’s future and with the arrival of Sinsa Mihajlovic as new coach he could find himself surplus to requirements.

Honda arrived at Milan on a free transfer from CSKA Moscow in January 2014 after his contract expired with the Russian club.

Before he agreed the move the previous October, Roberto Martinez had been an interested suitor.

The Catalan has admitted that he is in the market for a playmaker and he believes he might have to go abroad to find the right type of player but the Blues could face competition from Tottenham this time around.

Honda has been capped 73 times by Japan and has scored 29 international goals and is one of a trio of Serie A-based players being linked with Everton today.

Football Italia say that the Blues have reportedly prepared a 5million Euros offer for Genoa defender Sebastian De Maio but they are still some way off the club’s asking price.

Gazzetta dello Sport quoted Genoa’s president Enrico Preziosi as demanding 9million Euros for the 28-year-old but negotiations are likely to develop as Everton seek to find a compromise.

The 6ft 3in centre-back was born in the Parisian suburb of St Denis and played for Nancy as a junior player before joining Brescia where he had a seven-year spell.

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Meanwhile, the rumour that won’t go away has resurfaced with the Metro saying that Everon are ‘cleared’ to sign Inter winger Xherdan Shaqiri after Schalke pulled out of the race to sign the Swiss international winger.

The report claims that the Blues tabled a £12million bid last month but with a return to the Bundesliga no longer on the cards, he is now able to seal a switch to Merseyside.

Schalke coach Andre Breitenreiter told Sport Bild: “Shaqiri is not of interest to us at the moment. We don’t even have meetings with him on our schedule.”

Inter only signed the 23-year-old in January from Bayern Munich but have been trying to offload him all summer.

Stoke City tried to sign Shaqiri last month but he failed to agree terms before their allotted deadline.

Blues transfer tracker