Everton’s Chermiti move confirmed as Dyche quizzed on transfer plans

Sean Dyche has confirmed Everton are in for Youssef Chermiti with a deal for the Portugal youth international close to being confirmed.

The Toffees boss was quizzed about the club’s transfer plans at a news conference previewing Saturday’s season opener against Fulham at Goodison Park.

Ashley Young and Arnaut Danjuma are the only new faces so far, but multiple reports suggest a deal for Sporting forward Chermiti is on the brink of being confirmed after he completed a medical.

Dyche was happy to confirm that was the case, though he was more coy when asked about Wilfried Gnonto.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

The Italy forward did not play for Leeds in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday amid reports he wants to leave the club, with Everton supposedly having held talks with his representatives.

Asked about Gnonto, Dyche told reporters:

“I don’t tend to speak about other players. He [Gnonto] is a good player and there are many of them out there.

“What I will speak about is Youssef [Chermiti], he’s nearly here and that’s why I’ll speak about him.

“He can add a new dimension to the squad. I’ve said all along we’re working hard so let’s see how it opens up.

“Youssef is young and we’re not putting pressure on him at the moment. He’s young on and off the pitch but we think he has the raw talents to be a good player.”

Dyche played down reports linking the club with PSG forward Hugo Ekitike, saying the club had not held talks about a move for the 21-year-old “to his knowledge.”

Reflecting on the window as a whole, Dyche admitted it is a tough market place to operate in, but he was determined to remodel an imbalanced squad signed my multiple managers in a short space of time.

”There are challenges, that has been apparent, we’ve been linked with many.

“There isn’t an exact number but last season there was a big imbalance in the squad so we’re having the re-balance. We want players with quality and finding the right mixture is key.

“We’ve got experience so its’ about finding young players to add in too. We want to build the squad in a different way to the past.”