Official: Portuguese striker Beto joins Everton | OneFootball

English club Everton have confirmed the signing of Udinese forward Beto for a fee believed to be in excess of £30m, with the Portuguese signing a four-year deal at Goodison Park.

The Toffees are in desperate need of goals having failed to score in all three of their defeats at the start of the new Premier League season. Beto leaves Serie A having proved a revelation with Udinese following his move from Portimonense in the summer of 2021.

“It feels good [to get the move completed] finally,” Beto told the club’s media. “I have always appreciated Everton as a club. They have always had players that I like, so for me to move here was an easy move. My idol played here, Samuel Eto’o. And I liked Lukaku too. So it was easy to choose to come to Everton.

“My strengths? I can bring courage, confidence, effort. I think my number one skill is effort. I bring enthusiasm to the game. In my opinion [my style] will fit really well. I’m looking forward to getting started today. I know the team needs to score goals and I will try. I love to score goals, I know it’s difficult. The team needs goals and I’m here to help and try my best to score goals.

“Goodison Park? Words can’t express the feeling I would have playing there. When I was in high school it was a stadium I always wanted to play at, because of the city, the derby. I think the fans in Everton are a step up from other fans. So I’m excited to play here. Everton is a big club in the Premier League, well respected. So it was an easy move to make.”

Beto scored a highly respectable 22 league goals from 65 appearances in Udine, which represented a remarkable ascent from amateur football in Portugal just a few years earlier. The Lisbon-born forward’s previous career as an employee at KFC is well-documented, as is his quick rise through the Portuguese lower leagues ahead of his breakthrough season with Portimonense in 2020-2021.

AC Milan were previously thought to be leading the chase for Beto’s signature. Instead he joins an Everton side bottom of the Premier League without a single goal registered. Beto could make his debut on Saturday in a tricky lunchtime trip to likely relegation-battling rivals Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.