Everton have overcome both Wolves and Bournemouth to reach a deal to sign Youssef Chermiti from Sporting Lisbon, the Daily Mail reports.
There are still details that need to be ironed out before the move for the teenage striker can be completed, but a fee has been agreed after “overnight talks”
Chermiti, 19, only broke into the Sporting first team last season and scored three goals, but had reportedly been generating interest from the two Premier League rivals in “recent weeks”.
Sean Dyche has so far brought in Ashley Young on a free transfer and Arnaut Danjuma on loan, and has missed out on strikers in the form of Rodrigo from Leeds United and Almeria’s El Bilal Touré, but is now close to making the Portuguese youngster his third signing of the summer.
Simon Jones reports for The Mail: “The Toffees are set to beat their Premier League rivals to secure Chermiti’s signature.”
The money involved is thought to be a €17million [£12.8m] fee that could rise according to goals scored as further clauses are discussed.
Until it is signed, sealed and announced nothing can be taken for granted at Goodison Park, as the January saga around current Toffees winger Danjuma showed.
But after disappointment after disappointment in that window in the pursuit for attacking targets, and already a few more this summer, it is about time that it was finally Everton who beat some rivals to one.
They will have to hope that they can now close the deal, and assuming they are able to do so that he doesn’t prove to be a disappointment on Merseyside.
It would surely be too much to expect of Chermiti to lift the flagging Toffees attack single-handedly after less than a full season in senior football.
At six foot four he certainly seems to fit the mould of a Dominic Calvert-Lewin stand-in more than Neal Maupay did a year ago, so if the English number nine is injured repeatedly again this season perhaps there will now be an answer.
However, Ellis Simms looked to have the frame required to do that last season and Dyche still agreed to send him to Coventry this summer, so it is a lot of pressure to put on a teenager’s shoulders if the team is struggling again in the new campaign.
It appears that the fee might be around half what was put on the table to sign Touré so surely Dyche will be looking to add another option with the rest before the window closes.
In other Everton news, Manchester United have now entered the race to sign a young Toffees man who looks set for an increased first-team role this season.
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