Everton ‘close’ to double signing; £20m Leeds raid nears completion, Dyche pursues Tottenham reject | OneFootball

Everton are reportedly ‘close’ to signing Leeds United winger Wilfried Gnonto and Villarreal attacker Arnaut Danjuma this summer.

The Whites will part ways with several players after being relegated to the Championship. Gnonto is one player Leeds are ‘expected to lose,’ amid interest from Everton, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.

It’s no secret that Sean Dyche wants to improve his attacking options this summer. The Toffees scored just 34 goals last season – the second-fewest in the Premier League – and as a result, they came unbearably close to relegation for the second season running.

Several attacking players have been linked with a switch to Goodison Park recently, but Gnonto and Danjuma have always been at the top of their shortlist.

Now, according to Sport Italia, Gnonto’s agent Claudio Vigorelli is ‘in London sorting out the final details of his switch to Everton.’

The report claims that the ‘definitive white smoke’ is expected in the next few hours. It doesn’t note how much Everton are willing to spend on him, though.

As previously noted by Football365, Leeds want around £20m for Gnonto.

Due to the Toffees’ ongoing financial troubles, however, this would be a huge chunk of their summer budget. So it’s likely they will have to pay the fee in several instalments.

It is believed Everton have offered Gnonto a five-year contract. With that in mind, he is definitely a player for Blues fans to keep an eye on over the next couple of days.

Dyche’s summer business won’t stop there, though, and reports suggest they are also close to securing the signature of Danjuma.

Everton almost signed Danjuma in the January window, before Tottenham hijacked their move at the last minute.

The Dutchman barely played for Spurs while on loan with them last season but the Toffees’ interest has never gone away.

AC Milan have been considered the favourites to sign Danjuma for the past couple of weeks. But in a fresh twist, Spanish outlet AS claim that Everton are now ‘one step away’ from signing Danjuma.

The report states that the Merseyside club are willing to pay £3.5m and cover 100% of the forward’s wages – presumably to secure a season-long loan move.

With that in mind, there seems to be a genuine chance that Everton could sign both Gnonto (permanent) and Danjuma (loan) this summer.

Dyche will hope that those additions, and hopefully a new striker, will be enough to avoid a third consecutive relegation battle at Goodison Park.