Bournemouth have beaten Nottingham Forest to the £40 million signing of FC Porto forward Evanilson in a deal which leaves Eddie Nketiah stuck in limbo at Arsenal.
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Having already snapped up the extremely highly-rated Dean Huijsen from Juventus, Andoni Iraola’s side are on the verge of securing another eye-catching signing.
Evanilson, like former AS Roma loanee, had caught the eye of some of England’s biggest sides.
HITC can confirm that Evanilson’s agent had contact with Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Newcastle, West Ham and Arsenal during the summer transfer window.
The 24-year-old was part of the Porto team which defeated Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in the Champions League knockout stages last season, albeit before The Gunners turned the tie around in the second leg before progressing on penalties.
HITC understands, however, that Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth are the only two clubs who really formalised their interest.
The Cherries now appear to have won the race, too. Evanilson is flying into England for a medical after Bournemouth agreed a club-record fee of £40 million.
Bournemouth win race for Porto striker Evanilson
The two-time Brazil international will cost considerably more than their previous record signing; Jefferson Lerma. But Bournemouth have serious money to spend after selling last season’s 21-goal top scorer Dominic Solanke to Tottenham Hotspur for £65 million.
HITC have been told that Evanilson was one of two strikers Bournemouth had narrowed their search down to. The other was Eddie Nketiah.
Despite agreeing personal terms, a proposed move to Marseille collapsed after the French giants opted against meeting his staggering £50 million asking price.
Marseille have since brought in Elye Wahi from Ligue 1 rivals RC Lens.
And while Arteta would be happy to keep Nketiah in his squad – the academy graduate has proven himself to be a useful back up over the years – there will be concerns over how this affects their pursuit of Real Sociedad midfielder Mikel Merino.
Arsenal still yet to sell Eddie Nketiah
Arsenal were planning to use the money brought in from Nketiah’s sale to spend on Merino.
The Premier League runners-up do, at least, have other players they could move on to free up funds. Reiss Nelson, Aaron Ramsdale, Kieran Tierney and Jakub Kiwior may all be available for the right price.
Whether Evanilson can emulate Solanke’s impact at Bournemouth, meanwhile, remains to be seen.
But strong and physical at 6ft, very mobile and an excellent link-man, Evanilson does share a few of Solanke’s key attributes. He scored 25 goals while setting up seven more for Porto last season, and notched a Champions League hat-trick against Royal Antwerp.
Evanilson’s fellow Porto forward Galeno may also be on his way to England.
HITC have been told that Nottingham Forest are keen on Galeno too. Wolves, meanwhile, have identified the winger as a potential replacement for Pedro Neto after his £54 million move to Chelsea.
“Galeno has been great over the last season-and-a-half in particular,” European football expert Andy Brassell tells the On The Continent podcast.
“He got into the Brazil team as well. Portugal were very keen to get him into their national team but he got into Brazil, which is great for him.
“(Galeno is) a very wide forward-type. A very modern wide player who can score goals from lots of different angles. Fast and physical.”
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