Dele Alli gets Everton boost as Frank Lampard identifies ideal way to kickstart career

Everton look to be edging closer to signing Lille midfielder Amadou Onana with talks reportedly progressing quickly between both clubs.

The Toffees have agreed a fee for the 20-year-old and the player is on Merseyside to undergo a medical but it’s not yet clear whether he’ll be available to play this weekend’s Premier League opener against Chelsea with the same depending on whether relevant paperwork was submitted by noon on Friday.

West Ham were also interested in the midfielder and had a fee of £33.5m agreed with Lille, but personal terms proved an issue with the 20-year-old seeming to favour a move to Goodison Park.

Onana was signed by Lille from Hamburg for just £5.9m last summer, so they stand to make a significant profit on the Belgium international. However from an Everton point of view, Frank Lampard will see it as a worthwhile investment as he looks to bolster his midfield for the new campaign.

Everton are also working on a deal to bring Paris Saint-Germain’s Idrissa Gana Gueye back to Goodison Park. The former Blues midfielder made 108 appearances across three seasons at the club, after joining the club from Aston Villa, before moving to PSG in the summer of 2019.

Gueye turns 33 in September and is very much a short-term solution to what has been a long-term problem at the club. Onana though is an investment for the future and despite his age, is already exhibiting a lot of the traits missing within Everton’s current crop of midfielders.

He’s quick, strong, mobile, press resistant but also good in possession. For Lille, he usually played in a midfield two in a variety of different formations, although also has experience as a No.8 in a three-man midfield.

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