Aston Villa winger Anwar El Ghazi is set for a medical with Everton today as he closes in on a loan move to Goodison Park.
Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has taken to Twitter to report that Everton have agreed a deal to take El Ghazi on loan until the end of the season.
Villa will be signing Everton defender Lucas Digne in a permanent move, though the two moves are completely separate.
El Ghazi was allegedly valued at £15million by Villa, a fee Everton seemingly weren’t willing to pay right now.
Instead, Everton will be taking El Ghazi on a temporary basis, though a permanent option will surely be included.
Steven Gerrard just doesn’t seem to have plans for El Ghazi right now. Since taking the Villa job, Gerrard has given El Ghazi just 44 minutes of action.
The 26-year-old needs playing time away from Villa, and Everton now want him to battle Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray out wide.
To be honest, this isn’t a move that will excite Everton fans.
There will be very fair question asked whether a player who can’t get in Villa’s team can really help Everton.
Everton do need some depth out wide though, and El Ghazi offers an option on either flank for Rafael Benitez.
El Ghazi did at least shine last season, bagging 10 goals in the Premier League.
One of those goals came at Goodison Park, scoring the winner for Villa against Everton in May.
With a host of players ahead of him in Gerrard’s pecking order, it makes sense for El Ghazi to now head out until the summer.
West Ham United were interested in signing El Ghazi too, but it seems that Everton have now won the race.
El Ghazi will now become Everton’s third January signing, following Vitaliy Mykolenko and Nathan Patterson to Goodison Park.
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