Everton pursuit of Gylfi Sigurdsson close to collapse and Swansea prepare to walk away

Swansea City are ready to abandon negotiations with Everton over the signing of Gylfi Sigurdsson with a fee for the Iceland international yet to be agreed. Ronald Koeman was hopeful of securing a deal for the 27-year-old this week but with the start of the Premier League season just days away the south Wales club are ready to walk away from talks.

Swans boss Paul Clement stated last week he wanted a quick resolution to the transfer saga and indicated the club were open to a cash-plus-player deal in order to push through Sigurdsson's move to Goodison Park. The Daily Telegraph understand a fee of £45m was verbally agreed between the clubs yet the Toffees reignited talks in an attempt to bring the price down.

The difference between Everton and Swansea's valuation of Sigurdsson is said to be less than £5m, with Swansea wanting close to £50m for the player who kept them in the Premier League last season with 10 goals and 13 assists in all competitions. Koeman sees Sigurdsson as key to the club's attempts to breach the top four and wants the ex-Tottenham Hotspur man, a full back and another forward before the end of the summer transfer window.

The Dutchman is frustrated a deal has not yet been finalised after an otherwise fruitful summer for Everton, who have added 11 new players amid the exit of Romelu Lukaku and imminent departure of Ross Barkley. Koeman still wants another attacker, irrespective of whether he acquires Sigurdsson or not, with Arsenal's Olivier Giroud the chief target.

The ex-Southampton boss believed a deal to sign Sigurdsson was close earlier this week while confirming he was three more signings before the 31 August deadline. "We are close [on Sigurdsson], we have to wait. But still, the deal is not done," he explained. "Everybody knows we are looking for three more players – a left centre-back, a left full-back, a player who can play out of both positions, a winger and a striker and that's the picture, what the best is for our team and we will see what we can do."

Among the central reasons for Swansea wanting to curtail talks with Everton is due to the close proximity to the start of the new season, which starts at Southampton on Saturday [12 August]. Clement wanted the deal sown up in good time to ensure it did not act as a distraction but now talks threaten to enter the dying embers of the transfer window.

"Talks are still going on and hopefully we are going to get some news in the next couple of days," he said last week. "The deal needs to be the best for all parties involved, we have got a very, very important season coming up. We know what happened last season if you don't make a good start and we don't want that to happen again."