Everton have completed the signing of Portuguese striker Beto from Italian side Udinese. The fee is reported to be around £30m, with the player signing a four-year contract at Goodison Park.
Beto, 25, scored 10 goals in 33 Serie A appearances for Udinese last season and strengthens an Everton attack that has yet to find the back of the net in three games this campaign. He is the Toffees’ fifth signing of the summer transfer window after Ashley Young, Arnaut Danjuma, Youssef Chermiti and Jack Harrison, and may not be the last regardless of the club’s financial problems.
“Everton is a big, big club in the Premier League, well respected and has big history. It was easy to make this move.
“When a club like Everton tries to buy you in January and then comes again in the summer, you feel like, ‘OK, they want me for real’, so that made the decision easy for me as well.
“My idol, Samuel Eto’o, played here, too, which makes it even more special.”
Everton make enquiry for West Ham striker Danny Ings
Beto has arrived at Goodison Park with the club languishing at the bottom of the table and desperate for additional firepower having lost their opening three games of the 2023/24 Premier League season without scoring a goal.
The 6ft 4in tall Portuguese striker, who has scored 21 league goals over the past two seasons for Udinese, should ease the goalscoring burden on the injury-prone Dominic Calvert-Lewin whilst affording teenage striker Youssef Chermiti time to develop and hone his skills under Sean Dyche. With his physicality, hold-up play and aerial prowess, the 25-year-old appears to be a good fit for Dyche’s style of football.
However, Everton are in no mood to stop as Kevin Thelwell, the club’s director of football, has reportedly approached West Ham over the possibility of signing Danny Ings, despite the English striker reluctant to leave the London Stadium this summer.
The Toffees could generate funds by selling Demarai Gray and Alex Iwobi. Gray has been the subject of interest from Saudi Arabian clubs, while Iwobi is on the radar of Everton’s Premier League rivals Fulham. Iwobi, who is into the final year of his deal at Goodison Park, has a price tag of over £ 20 m on his head.
I am Rohan Sengupta from one of the busiest cities in India, Mumbai. A Journalism graduate with a keen interest in sports, football is something I simply cannot live without and writing, discussing and analyzing the game is what I do 24*7.
