Everton are reportedly closing in on William Carvalho, which could frustrate West Ham when their own attempts to sign the Sporting midfielder went wrong.
The expected appointment of Marco Silva as manager, which the BBC says could be this week, should help push the deal through with the 40-year-old having managed the midfielder when he was in charge at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in 2014/15.
Carvalho is keen to make the move to the Premier League and has even hired the services of sports consultancy Stellar Group to help negotiate the deal.
If the Portugal international does indeed complete a transfer to Goodison Park, then it is likely to be greeted with frustration at West Ham United.
The Hammers tried to sign Carvalho last summer, but with co-owner David Sullivan overseeing negotiations relations between the two clubs broke down.
While the East London club have since said relations between them and the Primeira Liga outfit are now “friendly”, that doesn’t look like it will stop the Toffees winning the race to sign Carvalho when it was the Hammers who were in the perfect position almost 12 months ago.
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