Everton are finally on the verge of signing Gylfi Sigurdsson after agreeing a £45m fee with Swansea, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Sigurdsson missed Swansea’s opening league match to concentrate on securing a move to Goodison Park and now the Iceland international will undergo a medical with Ronald Koeman’s side.
The Toffees have been one of the biggest spenders this summer and they are now poised to take their expenditure well beyond the £100m mark after agreeing a club-record deal with Swansea.
There was a legitimate concern that Swansea would walk away from negotiations after Everton tried to change parts of the transfer that had already been verbally agreed but there has finally been a breakthrough in talks.
Koeman’s side will pay Swansea £40m up front with a further £5m in performance related add-ons and the deal is expected to be completed in time for Sigurdsson to be available for Monday’s game against Manchester City.
Sigurdsson has established himself as a dead ball specialist since returning to Swansea three years ago, illustrated by the fact the 27-year-old registered more assists from set-pieces than any other player in the Premier League last season (8).
However, his ability to create from general play remains questionable. In fact, Idrissa Gueye and Gareth Barry (both 24), who left Everton to join West Brom on Tuesday evening, created more chances from open play than Sigurdsson (20) in the league last term.
Pretty silly to throw that much money out of the window for a free kick specialist. They could've bought 2-3 just as good players from the continent for the same money!