Chermiti signing now claimed to be done as Sporting striker joins Everton

Stories that emerged late last night are saying Youssef Chermiti is an Everton player with personal terms agreed and a medical to come in the next few days.

According to a piece in Football Insider the two clubs have agreed on a fee and now the player has settled personal terms as well. All that remains is a succesful medical.

Everton have been desperately scouring the transfer market for new forwards this summer but other than loan signing Arnaut Danjuma, have had no joy.

As this story underlines, the Blues have seen a number of players who were strongly linked with the club, move to other destinations including Viktor Gyokeres, El Bilal Toure, Moussa Dembele and Rodrigo.

Now, if this report is fully accurate, Chermiti is about to join Danjuma in a potentially new-look Everton attack.

The Portuguese starlet has some strengths and qualities that would seem to make him well-suited to the game over here.

In particular, his height and ability in the air are of obvious value, especially to an Everton side that likes to often play long-ball football under Sean Dyche and has relied heavily on set-pieces for goals.

However, like I suspect a majority of Blues supporters, I won’t be totally convinced this is happening until I see him holding up a royal blue shirt at a Finch Farm presser.

Assuming all goes to plan and Chermiti does make the move from Portugal to Merseyside, his youth and lack of experience raises questions about how quickly he will be able to contribute to a seriously underperfoming attack that managed only thirty-four goals last season.

Yesterday, Dominic Calvert-Lewin returned to the Toffees team and scored the winner against Chermiti’s current club in Everton’s final pre-season game.

But of course as we all know only too well, it would be a very foolish person who was prepared to bet on Calvert-Lewin’s fitness for any length of time.

So, it is clearly essential that the Blues bring in at least one more forward, one preferably with Premier League experience, who can start contributing straight away while Chermiti finds his feet in English football.

Rumours continue to circulate that that player could be Che Adams of Southampton although other names are also in the mix, but as yet these are deals which still seem a fair way off.

It is possible that 19-year-old Chermiti will hit the ground running and start scoring goals more or less straight away, assuming he gets into Dyche’s first-team.

That is though the most optimistic scenario and is probably a long-shot and so there is still vital and urgent work to be done in the transfer window with the new season less than a week away.