Youssef Chermiti ‘surprised’ by Everton transfer talks, focused on Sporting despite deal agreement

Youssef Chermiti was “surprised” to find out Everton were in talks to sign him and is still “focused” on his Sporting career, according to El Jogo.

Fabrizio Romano broke the news on Monday (31 July) that the Toffees had struck a verbal agreement with the Portuguese side for the teenage striker.

A fee starting at £12.8million is on the cards for Sean Dyche to land his third signing of the transfer window, but it has apparently come as news to the player, who trained with his current club the same day regardless of the breakthrough according to Record.

El Jogo report that despite the talks between Everton and Sporting a source close to the 19-year-old claimed he was still concentrating on life at Sporting, having only agreed a new contract in February which runs until 2027.

The youngster, who the Portuguese outlet reports has a release clause of €80m [£68.5m], only broke into the first team at the José Alvalade Stadium last season, scoring three goals.

Confusion?

The last thing that Everton need is for the pursuit of another forward to fall flat due to some unexpected complication, but reaching a deal between the clubs is only one part of the equation.

Usually these days agreement is secured from the player ahead of time to ensure that negotiations over a fee are worth the effort, making a mockery of the tapping up rules that were enforced in the past.

But if Chermiti was unaware of anything with regards to a Goodison switch it seems like Everton might have gone the old fashioned way and approached Sporting first this time.

Given they have fallen short on multiple occasions in the past year, including in instances where the player was fully committed such as Mohammed Kudus last summer, then a change of tactics is perhaps understandable.

But with Record reporting that contract terms still have to be negotiated with Chermiti it appears that there is a way to go yet to get this deal completed.

Perhaps after the initial surprise the youngster will be tempted by the prospect of a Premier League move, but it can’t be taken for granted until everything is signed and reports from Portugal have now introduced an element of doubt.

In other Everton news, clubs are suddenly queuing up to sign a forgotten man at Goodison Park that wants to leave.